The End
by Mouse Pocky
Summary: Movieverse fic. COMPLETELY REVAMPED This is the end, and like any story worth telling, this is the story of a girl. New York's newest resident, Piper Checker is just about to be tangled up in a very complicated web. Complete.
1. The Begining of an End

**1. 'The Beginning of an End'**

Summary: Takes place between movie 1 and 2. Piper Checker is about to be caught up in a tangled web. P/MJ

The End

New York City was just how she imagined it would be. It had the gray sky, dingy streets, permanent city scent perfuming air and myriad amount of little coffee stands she thought it would have. Piper had only just arrived at the New York airport. This scenery was quite a big change from her home in the south shore of Massachusetts. Her Dad got offered spot in a good law firm that wanted him to start as soon as possible, and he took it. Piper didn't blame him for that one bit. She wanted to move away from the state her mother was living in.

She couldn't really say that her parents were divorced because it didn't' seem right. Piper saw her mother only two times in her whole life. Right after she was born her parents had separated and she grew up living with her Dad.

Piper dismissed the unpleasant thoughts about her family situation from her mind. She let her brown eyes wander around the luggage moving in front of her as she looked for a less crowed place to pick her suitcase up from.

"Over here, Piper." Her father called out to her. He was in his normal Navy jacket holding a bunch of gigantic suitcases by his side. She pushed her way through the crowd of people looking for their own suitcases behind her.

They'd shipped most of their belongings up to the apartment a week earlier; most of the contents of the suitcases were clothes and personal belongings.

Piper said nothing most of the ride to their apartment. Mostly because she was tired, not being able to sleep in until noon on a Saturday is a terrible thing for a high school senior.

"_Switching schools in the middle of senior year sucks too_" She mentally added placing her head to rest against the cool glass car window.

Wisps of her blonde hair fell in her face. Her hair always did that because it was short and uneven. Her yellow strands barely touched her shoulders and her bangs were various lengths and normally clipped off to the side to keep them from being irritating, but that didn't stop it from falling all over her face.

Piper tapped her foot on the car floor for lack of anything better to do. The laces on her so called "combat heel-less boots" tapped against the black boot making a small but audible noise.

She had seen the new apartment before, it was much better than the condo she had previously lived in, heck A LOT better. It was showy and just made the statement that anyone living in it had a boatload of money, which wasn't exactly true in Piper's case. The company her father worked for paid for it; yeah, it goes to show you lawyers end up pretty well off. It didn't seem like a home though. She wondered if she could get used to it. Not that she would live there for very long anyway. She was going off to college in the fall. "_Just half a year away"_ she reminded herself.

Piper's father, Edward Checker, saw the look of bored resentment on his daughters face. He wanted to make conversation to comfort her in some way but he knew her responses would only be "Yeah" or "Whatever you want." It was hard for him to help Piper out; sometimes she was very close to him and clung to his every word. She was his daughter, the little girl he used to tuck into bed every night. But there were times now when she would be so distant he had to wonder what was going on in her mind. It was hard for him to understand a teenage girl.

He couldn't help but worry; he was her father after all.

Ed turned the deep gray leather steering wheel of the new red rental car and veered into the parking lot of the apartment building. Piper stretched for a moment and got ready to unload the car and haul some of her luggage up the front entrance stairs to the elevator since their apartment was more than four flights of stairs up. Piper pushed open the door of the car and felt the cold air around her. She pulled her jean jacket on tighter.

"It's pretty cold here for the beginning of March." Piper silently thought remembering the weather back home. "_That's not your home anymore Piper, get over it"_ She told herself and went up the elevator to her new home…

"PARKER! You better have some damn good excuse on why these pictures of Spiderman have blotches on them!" the person known as none other as "Mr. Jameson"

Peter Parker was lost for words as he endured the dull, yet always loud un-rhythmic yelling of Jameson.

The truth was that the film he'd used had been corrupted from a nerve gas from last person he'd been fending off. He hadn't realized it until the photos had been developed and it was too late to use them. Of course he'd told Jameson that the film had been corrupted (not how) but he would not listen. Peter hoped some of them might be salvageable with a little skill through Adobe Photoshop. 

He could not however seem explain this in a way Jameson would congruently understand.

"I'm sorry Mr. Jameson, sometimes you just get a bad role of film" Peter said drawing on a rather lame excuse.

Throughout the whole conversation random people working at the Daily Bugle had been walking in explaining their problems to Jameson. After they had gotten about four words out about their concern, Mr. Jameson told them exactly just how they could solve it in not so nice terms. Jameson was like that, his main concern was making money, had it not been for the newspapers selling out for copies about Spiderman, Jameson wouldn't have bothered with Parker at all. In fact Jameson reminded Peter this every single day he had the misfortune of bringing him pictures.

"Make sure you get some in tomorrow Parker, I don't care how many roles of film you have to take to get a picture. I won't take excuses."

"Yes sir." Peter said leaving the office and closing the door. He leaned against the wall and sighed.

"Sometimes I think the Green Goblin wasn't as scary and evil as Jameson."

He sighed and figured he should start his patrol (and new photo shoot)

"_Guess its time for my real work_"

And Peter vanished from the workspace known as the daily Bugle.

Piper looked out the window of her new room. The room itself was just fine; it was bigger than her old room but it didn't seem very home-like.

Her new living space had pink walls with a white border and a sitting window for looking out at supposedly scenic city- but really it was more like a scenic overview of the _parking lot_. The bed was adjacent to her one window and it was so far the only piece of assembled furniture; sheets, boxes, and assorted parts of a bureau were in sprawled out along the walls of the new room. Her bright white sliding closet doors were open waiting for Piper to hang up the clothes folded in her suitcase. The closet was small and quite ordinary and by the smell of it she could tell it was newly painted. Overall, it was part of her new very ordinary life. 

Piper kicked off her shoes to the side of the room and paid no attention to the thumping sound they made on the white carpet. She sat on the windowsill looking out at her 'new life'.

"_New school, new people…This should be good...this should be…not so lonely…I wish my life wasn't so boring…_" She commented silently. Her computer was not set up yet, and she desperately wanted to log on AIM to talk to her not so 'old' feeling friends. She didn't even have a cell phone; her Dad promised her one when they moved but so far she was still cell phone-less.

Idly she watched from her window her Dad carry up the last of the items into the building and wondered what they'd be having for dinner tonight. Possibly they might eat out. Piper wondered what sort of restaurants there were around here. She wondered if there were any good Curry places around.

Her idle thoughts were interrupted by the screeching sound of tires outside. Piper's eyes darted across the yard to see the rental car being driven hastily out of the parking lot…

"What!" she questioned aloud inspecting the surroundings of outside. There was a figure outside and it was on the ground.

Piper needed no incentive to get down the stairs to go outside. She jumped down one flight wincing at the sound and painfully absorbing the shock with her feet and then dashed down what seemed like an endless amount of stairs until she reached her destination of the door. Thoughts raced through her mind. That couldn't possibly be her father out there… "No, it couldn't be" she decided firmly as she forcefully pushed the door open.

It didn't bother her now that it was cold out and goose bumps on her arms proved it. The goose bumps weren't from the cold however. Strands of her hair obscured her vision as they fell forward in front of her face. Her knees gave out on her and she sank to the ground. 

It was him…and there was no denying it.

"I've got to be calm…I need a phone…I need a phone!" she said aloud. Piper cursed her lack of a cell phone.

Piper opened up the door again resisting the urge to run to her father and cling to his body, but she knew that would do no good. Bystanders and her apparent neighbors were gawking already. An imaged flashed suddenly into her mind as she remembered there was a pay phone in the lobby so she ran towards it as fast as she was able, fumbled for change she had in her pocket from lunch at the airport and dialed 9-1-1 quickly.

"Hello? Hello!" she choked into the receiver. She paused a moment, no response. After a few more seconds that seemed like hours and finally voice recording played over a machine. Piper slammed the phone back on its receiver. Fortunately the one of the bystanders had apparently called the ambulance because one had just rushed onto the scene.

Again she ran outside just watching everything in its total surrealism.

She didn't see anything in normal time; it was all in slow motion as she watched.

Somehow one of the paramedics told her that her father had been shot in his left leg and he would indeed be okay. Piper nodded; still not believing this was going on all around her. They put him on a board and lifted him into what the EMTs called 'the bus'.

How could it be? The person she loved and cared about most could get hurt? That could and should never happen to her…_never_. Or so she had thought and now it seemed more real than ever.  
This would never make the news. Peter, or rather Spiderman had seen a police chase of a red car and he lent a hand, scoring a few pretty good photos in the process. He knew however, Jameson would not be happy at such an 'insignificant' reporting. He wished Jameson would see that it was important to somebody, that he had helped somebody, not just a meaningless face.

Not many people understood this; it was why Peter made it his own agenda to help those that were considered everyday insignificant problems.

The 'Super Spider' had its own agenda. It was lonely without its fellow friends from the lab it came from. After finding it had the ability to escape its glass prison it was out in the open world, free to crawl around and fend for itself. Maybe even make friends. The spider liked that life.

Right now the Spider decided now would be a good time to make one of its temporary web homes outside of a window; however it found it cold so it figured it would be better to go inside where it was warm. It crawled through the open window and into a small room and saw a girl and a man in the bed.

The spider crawled down in search of warm place to spin its home. It leapt up onto the chair the girl was sitting in beside her father. The girl was half asleep with her head tilted toward one shoulder. Her facial expression said everything, with her discontent look imprinted on her face.

The spider crawled up the girl's warm arm in order to get a better view of the room. The girl was waking from her drowsiness but immediately noticed an itchy feeling going up her arm. She turned her head just in time to see a blue and red _thing_ crawl up her sleeve to her shirt. She definitely felt something moving around on her back.

The girl frantically moved her arm around in hopes of destroying what ever was now on her back. She began to panic once more.

"OWWW!" The flailing girl yelped as she felt a sharp pain shoot up her back, it felt like a piercing pinch.

Gritting her teeth she grabbed the nearest magazine and began whapping her back with it.

The Spider had had enough of this; it escaped from the girl and leapt onto a chair arm beside her. The girl caught the movement from her peripheral vision as she slammed the magazine onto the offending creature as hard as she humanly could.

The Spider, who was sorry to give up its residence on Piper's back; did not expect to see with its eight tiny eyes that its final moments would come from eight tiny images of a Britney Spears Pepsi ad squishing it into the next great beyond.

She instantly dropped the magazine that had bits of mutilated bug parts implanted on the cover. She examined them for a moment wrinkling her noise in disdain, then by careful inspection she identified exactly what the creature that she had wildly crushed was.

"A SPIDER?" she squealed and dropped the magazine screeching. "Did it bite me?" she whimpered.

Normally Piper would NEVER whimper but she had a terrible fear of spiders. Piper had what she called _mild_ arachnophobia (or not so mild), but that was her secret- and no one who wanted to live would ever know it. She tried to avoid all types of the arachnids at all costs.

Piper nervously rubbed her back in fear of what had just happened to her. "_At least I'm in a hospital…"_ she mumbled to herself trying to find some small sort of comfort in such an obvious revelation. An unexpected wave of dizziness nearly knocked her from her feet. She stumbled a few steps as her head began to throb like it had been slammed into an invisible concrete wall. Her vision began to blur in and out like someone was uses her eyes as a focus on a microscope. 

"_That can't be good…I'm just going to sleep it off; I'll be fine…" _Piper sleepily thought unable to think clearly from the toxins entering her system. She stumbled into the chair she had been previously occupying and she dosed off restlessly next to her father.

**2. The End- 'Who? Spiderman?'**

The morning sun was exceptionally blinding to Piper Checker. Waking up in her father's hospital room from sleeping in a chair was not, in Piper's opinion the best wake to start off a new day. She groaned rubbing her eyes. The teen then kneaded her knuckles into her neck, it was sore from being propped up again her shoulder all night. When she moved her head to the side it made a painful cracking noise.

"Glad to see you're awake sleeping beauty." Her father commented cheerfully and amusedly sitting up in his hospital bed.

"Oh yes, I had a fantastic nap." She thought about being more sarcastic but she didn't want to be impudent to her father. Piper yawned and stretched a little before rising to her feet. As she stood up her eyes wandered around the hospital room. For a moment she examined her surroundings and did not find even one flower vase or cheesy "get well" card, not that they knew anyone to receive a card from yet anyway. She felt a wave of sadness from that.

"So how are you feeling Dad?" Piper asked concerned for her father. She realized more than ever it was just the two of them.

"Almost back to normal, the experience wasn't fun though," Piper's father answered. He could tell how concerned she was, it was true he was still in pain but he did not want to worry his daughter.

"Yeah, no kidding" Piper rolled her eyes at her Dad; she thought he was back to normal since he was already teasing her like normal.

Piper thumbed her hand in the direction of the door.

"I'm getting some food, I'll be back"

Piper figured there must be a Dunkin Donuts near by, after all in Massachusetts there was one just about every mile.

"Where are you going?" her father questioned

"To Dunkies to get much needed caffeine and a no doubt nutritional and tasty breakfast of fried sugar filled pastries; things that a hospital would certainly not approve of you consuming." Piper grinned at her father as she slung her pocketbook around her shoulder.

"Oh, in that case, get me a large cream, no sugar and a let's see…why not- a double chocolate donut, okay?"

Piper nodded "I thought you might say that" she grinned again and left the room. Gently, she closed the creaky door trying not to make a loud obnoxious sound. "_Damn old hinges"_ when she went to remove her hand from the doorknob it stuck. Literally it wouldn't come off the silver metal knob. So naturally she tugged harder causing the door to knock against its frame. Piper winced at the noise.

"Come on, gimme a break; where is this stuck-" The brown-eyed teen began to grunt pulling her hand more forcefully. Apparently she had said it too loud because a voice from behind her answered her.

"The vending machines are that way, if you want a kit-kat that is" A masculine voice said from behind her.

Piper turned her neck around to get a good look at the guy.

"Oh very funny" She remarked ignoring his bad joke and forced a smile on her face while tugging her hand on the doorknob trying to make it look like it wasn't stuck.

The man in front of her wasn't tall, but he wasn't short, in fact he was only a little taller than Piper herself. His hair was a normal color brown and his facial expression was soft and sort of humorous. Not to mention he had a cute sort of charm about him.

"Need help?" he asked, with his crystal blue eyes smiling at her.

"Eh…I got it, thanks anyway" Piper lied. "I could use some directions though."

Piper decided to give her next tug to free her poor stuck hand a little more force; in the process she managed to free her hand and break the hinges on the door. All that was keeping the door from falling off now was her hand that was holding it up.

"I think this door is broken" Piper said pointing at the broken hinge with her free hand, trying not to look as if she had broken the door. She wasn't so sure this guy bought it though.

"I guess so," the guy said raising and eyebrow.

So instead Piper 'opened' the door and left it leaning it against the wall.

"_I don't know how I managed to break that"_ She thought to herself.

"So…could you tell me where the nearest Dunkin Donuts is?" she asked the man.

"Dunkin Donuts?" He responded, "You must not be from around here; Star Bucks is about the only coffee shop here."

"Star Bucks? I guess that'll do" _Wasn't it a coffee shop too?_ She had never been to one before.

"Are you gonna walk there?" the man questioned.

"My Dad's rental car got stolen" Piper responded. Not that her Dad would have let her drive it. Even though she had her license she wasn't all that great a driver.

"Did this happen yesterday? Was your Dad the one who got shot?" the man questioned before realizing he had been slightly rude.

"Yeah, but he's okay" Piper said listening to her stomach grumble. She wondered how he knew about what happened, was it in the papers?

"Oh, I'm Peter Parker from the Daily Bugle and I'd like it if I could get a picture of you and your Dad for the paper," he said taking a camera out from a backpack he was toting with him.  
"Apparently your car was stolen by a famous auto thief; this is before Spiderman busted him".

"_And because I need to add you two into a photo I took of me doing it in the process because you weren't on the scene,"_ He silently commented to himself thinking of how much this photo would subdue Jameson.

"If you take me to a coffee shop you've got a deal" Piper bargained.

"What's your name?" Peter asked.

"Piper Checker"

"You've got a deal then, Piper." He said as they shook hands.

After Piper and her father and her had their photos taken as Peter promised, they set out to the nearest coffee shop they could find. 

"So who's Spiderman?" Piper questioned as they walked outside exiting the hospital.

"You've got to be new here" Peter answered her chuckling.

"I moved here yesterday" Piper feeling a little out of the "New York loop"

"That explains it," He responded turning on the corner to the next block.

"I moved here from Massachusetts" she told him as if that was an explanation for her not knowing who Spiderman was.

"Are you still in school?" he asked.

"I'm still in the middle of senior year" Piper said knowing that the next question would probably be "Where are you going to college?"

"I go to NYU, I'm a sophomore." Peter offered.

Piper looked a little shocked; she would not have guessed that he was a sophomore in college. Peter seemed a little geeky; he looked like a person that had always won first place in a science fair.

"Here we are" Peter said as they arrived in front of a Star Bucks.

"Thanks for the directions" Piper nodded, even though they had only had to go about two blocks. 

"Thanks for the pictures" He responded, "I have to get going though, can you find your way back alright?"

Piper nodded. She only hopped she would not be robbed of her precious coffee. She entered the European style coffee barista curiously looking for donuts but to her sadness found none. She did not find anything familiar about the place. She had no idea how to order…anything.

"I'll have um all…large…err I guess, tall coffee with cream?" Tall sounded like the same thing as large plus it seemed to be cheaper than the other sizes that were ridiculously expensive. She didn't know why she was paying this much for coffee. "And an iced coffee, extra cream and sugar? Ah…two muffins…"

Somehow she managed to get her food items and walk back. After she got about half a block she remembered:

"_I never got to find out who this Spiderman was"_

"So when are they gonna let you out?" Piper asked taking a bite out of her muffin.

"Not until at least tomorrow, and we still have to finish unpacking." Her father said reminding himself of all the work they had to do. He curiously eyed the small coffee Piper handed to him but didn't say anything. 

"If you want I'll catch a cab home and start it" Piper offered.

"If you really want to…" Ed said in a sort of undecided voice.

"Really, I'm very bored here dad" she said trying to convince her father.

"Okay, I'm not stopping you" he sighed, "Just be careful, okay?"

Piper nodded reassuringly at her father. "You know if I had a cell phone…"

"Piper…"

"Bye Dad! I'll be fine!"

No matter how hard Piper tried, she just could NOT signal a cab to aid her in her search for a ride home. So instead being run over while trying to hail a cab, she wandered around the city streets to find a less busy place to grab a taxi. However, she _sort of_ got lost, but that did not bother her because she found a bookstore and more than anything she loved to read. So she entered the shop, found an interesting book, bought it and sat down in the corner and read it. She figured she'd stop after a few chapters to try to catch a cab again but she just couldn't put the book down.

And when she finished the book it was just nearly five o'clock.

"Whoops" she said leaving the store.

Using her better logical she decided to go back to the hospital. Using her "not-so-good logic" she turned down one of the very many cliché dark alleyways in which she was sure she went through on the way to her bookstore excursion.

"Oh shoot" she cursed realizing she was lost. She leaned against the damp brick wall. "I am SOOOOO smart" she muttered.

Her hand stuck to the brick…again. Piper put her other hand on the brick it stuck too. A crazy idea occurred to her. She thought she was losing her mind. But she went with it she was a risk taker.

She moved her hand up. It stuck again, then she did the same with her right hand and before she knew it he was climbing up the wall. When she reached the middle, she looked down, Piper was pretty high up, but this did not faze her and she continued her climb.

She was breathless by the time she reached the top of the building.

Piper examined herself; everything looked normal except for the bump on her back from the…spider bite? She was also pretty bright. Being able to put two and two together quickly, she wondered what exactly that spider was.

She looked at her wrists there were definitely patches of skin there that weren't there before and then she remembered how she'd ripped off the hospital door this morning…

"It's from that…thing!" Piper shuddered. Then a crazy thought occurred to her "Am I turning into a spider?" The blonde haired girl gulped, the idea of turning into a spider did not at all appeal to her.

Piper wondered how she was going to get down; if she could only get to a taller building she might have an idea of what direction she should head in. Carefully she climbed down the same way she got up and decided to scale the adjacent taller building.

Upon making her way to the top she was glad she didn't think about falling at the height she had just climbed. She hadn't realized she made her way up on top of what seemed to be a roof top garden. It was absolutely beautiful, nature's magnificence in an unlikely place.

She had never seen anything like it before, there was a cherry tree was in full bloom at the center of the rooftop garden and a marble bench was placed next to the pink flowering tree. There were all sorts of pretty flowers just starting to bud and a whole section devoted to different kinds of roses. She wondered how the gardener was able to grow them. The best part was, that even though she was so high up she could see the buildings around her and the evening sky.

The scene was breathtaking; and as she enjoyed it she suddenly noticed she wasn't the only one enjoying it. There was another person hanging on a flagpole on the building next to the rooftop Eden. It was on the building Piper had just crawled off from. She could only make out some of the person's silhouette and nothing else; the sunset was blocking the view. Piper shielded her eyes from the light slowly sinking off in the distance.

The figure must have noticed her because the person brought their hand out in front of them and a sticky white strand attached itself to a granite statue in the garden. The figure swung over to her in a graceful motion that would have made even Tarzan look like an elephant swinging from a tree.

The sun was still blocking her view, but the golden orb had almost set so she could see the person was wearing something red and blue and definitely had a mask on. The masked person landed agilely over onto the roof she was on and began to approach her.

"Who are you!" she wondered aloud.


	2. I Don't Like Spiders

**The End 3- I don't like spiders.**

As the sunlight vanished, Piper was now able to see what appeared to be a suspicious spandex clad man in front of her. Who ever he was, he was _definitely_ buff and even though Piper was seeing a person wearing a red and blue tight superhero costume standing in front of her, she did not feel threatened at all. Maybe this was because her heart was still pounding from crawling up walls. She didn't know.

"Just your friendly Neighborhood Spiderman." He responded casually and at ease. He seemed witty.

"Ohhh! So you're him" Piper responding with her mind forming pictures of comic books she'd seen in bookstores.

"The one and only."

"So what are you doing up here?" she questioned.

"I could ask the same question," the masked man responded. He paused a moment; the girl seemed familiar. He couldn't place her in his mind though. Still it wasn't often people climbed up all those flights of stairs to get up to this rooftop garden.

"I could give you a reason" she began, "You might be the only one who would appreciate it."

"Try me; I think you'll find me very understanding" maybe this girl had just broken up with her boyfriend? Or some other situation?

Piper sighed, "If you really want to." Her fingers went down to end of her shirt and she rotated her feet so that her backside was facing the spandex clad man.

Piper began to slowly roll up the back of her shirt exposing her bare pale skin.

Spiderman's jaw began to drop and with his instincts brought his hands to his eyes trying to cover up his vision. Piper made a pained face, unable to see the superhero's facial expression.

He saw the upper part of her back was bruised and discolored, had she been attacked?

His theory was abandoned the moment she burst out: "It bit _ME_!" And she pointed to the bump on her back. "HARD!"

Spiderman to a few steps closer to see the bump on the girls back; it was pink and swollen like the one on his hand had been…but it couldn't be…He couldn't see it very well part of her bra strap was covering it, he momentarily blushed.

Her back was still facing him and she was furiously pointed at a bump protruding from it.

"Look, it bit me!" she still said outraged.

"What bit you?" he questioned wondering how on Earth this had happened. He had squished it. He was sure of it!

"A spider, one of those creep crawly disgusting arachnids!"

Piper quickly pulled down her shirt and quickly turned around. "And now, something funny is going on because I just climbed up that wall because my hands STUCK to it and I ripped a door right off its hinge!" Piper ranted on.

"Wait a minute," Spiderman paused. "A spider bit you?" he questioned.

"YES! IT DID. I just told you that!" Piper said seeing as this person should have known this after she had exclaimed it a few times. She was beginning to get frustrated; this was unnerving and she didn't know what was going on. She felt a little scared.

"And then I squished the damn thing too" she continued as if this fact might help him figure out whatever was wrong with her.

"Let me see your wrists." Spiderman said calmly. Piper shrugged and held them out.

He held her palm delicately with his hands and examined it carefully. Piper's held her breath for a moment, the way he was holding them so gently she didn't know why she felt so flushed. He positioned her wrists back and folded her fingers so that a two of them touched her palm. As soon as the two fingers made contact with her palm a string of web shot out of her wrist and attached itself to the nearest object.

"Am I gonna die?" Piper said aloud feeling her heart pounding in her chest again.

Peter resisted the urge to laugh out loud, _Am I gonna die?_ It was too funny, too ironic! But he regained his composure.

"Nope- but on the good news side of things apparently you were bitten by the same type of genetically altered spider I was" he responded looking at the frightened girl. Piper stood back in disbelief. It was then it hit him. She was the girl from the hospital! He thought he had known her but hadn't been sure.

"You are a lunatic, dressed in spandex" 

Peter decided to ignore that comment, "you really don't like Spiders, do you?"

"Not at all" she responded and gave a little shudder.

"I thought you were more rational than this" The masked arachnid wondered aloud.

"Most of the time, I am- but now I'm not and I think I have a pretty good excuse" Piper in her dismay had not seemed to notice the comment the super hero made and continued prodding at her wrist.

Piper examined her wrists tried and putting her fingers in different positions trying to make the web come out again. She didn't remember exactly how he had positioned her fingers.

In one attempt she held all her fingers down, except for her middle one.

"Sorry, didn't mean to flip you off" Piper apologized.

She finally figured out what position her hand had to be in as her web stuck to a near by bench.

They were both silent for a moment.

"What…the _fuck!_" Piper said looking up at the new night sky.

"Hey, it's not _that_ bad," Peter tried to reason; he realized his response probably didn't make her feel any better.

"Look at what you're wearing- it is _that_ bad." the blonde haired-girl said accusingly. "You know," she continued "If I had never moved up here, none of this would have happened and I could still be normal!" Piper sighed. "I miss my friends, I'm never going to be able to talk to this about anyone, and I'll keep it a secret! Yes! I won't use it and I'll forget all about it! It will go away!" she concluded.

"No, you won't, people out there, they'll find you and then you might end up doing things you'll regret, everyone you love will be hurt unless you do something about it." He spoke deeply from his own experiences. It was like he was talking to his younger and certainly more female self. "I can't tell you what you should use this 'gift' or curse for, but I can't leave you stranded by yourself".

"_I would have loved more than anything for someone else to like me to help me out…" _he privately thought.

"Then…then show me how to deal with this!" Piper said upon hearing his words. More than anything at this moment she wanted someone who knew what was happening to her to help her. "I especially can't deal if I randomly shoot out webs or break doors!" she added fervently, somewhat angry and mostly frustrated. _How am I going to do this?_

Spiderman paused for a moment.

"Come on, we can go to my place"

Piper grinned for a moment momentarily forgetting her situation, "I bet you don't get to say that to a lot of girls." her currently mood didn't block her from making opportune remarks.

"So you have a sense of humor _after all_" he grinned amusedly and launched a web to a near by building and looked at Piper.

"I'll do it myself!" she said determinedly, she didn't like to be shown up by anyone!

Peter rolled his eyes under his mask and swung away. She was a fiery spirit alright.

Piper stuck out her hand hitting the same building Spidey's web was attached too.

"IEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEYAAAAA!"

Piper panted hard as she clung to the bricks under the window. She had never done anything so thrilling as to swing through a city knowing that if she would fall it would most certainly bring her to her doom. The knowledge of this thrilled Piper to death as she did amazing feats swinging from building to building having the time of her life.

Spiderman nimbly jumped up through the window landing perfectly and almost silently on the floor of his room. Not that he needed to be silent anyway since Harry did not live here anymore.

"_I can do that too!"_ Piper thought from underneath the window. Deftly she tried to leap up remembering the way she'd jumped from building to building.

Piper let out a yelp as she went hurtling through the window and landing on her caboose and proceeded to slide into the nearest wall of the room.

"You just could have climbed through…"

Piper groaned, this was going to be a lot harder than she thought.

She got up eventually though. Piper realized she wasn't hurt too badly and didn't seem to even be bruised. _Must come with the powers…_

Piper brushed the dirt and a sticky piece of web off her clothing. After inspecting herself in a mirror over an end table, she decided that she looked presentable enough even though her hair was very, very disheveled. Her skin was a little pale but that was hard to tell in the moonlight. Not for long though because Spiderman must of hit the light switch.

She turned around, Spiderman wasn't wearing his mask.

"You're him?" Piper yelped remembering the newspaper reporter and then suddenly laughed hysterically.

"What?" Peter Parker questioned. He cocked an eyebrow in her direction.

"When I was in a book store today, I saw your name as the person who took Spiderman's pictures," and she continued laughing. "That's clever" she added between laughs.

"Oh…well…yeah." And Peter cracked a smile. "I'm modest, aren't I?"

Peter began unzipping the top of his suit and folded it up. Peter was very…muscular…that was for sure Piper decided. She nervously turned around rather than see him undress. She tapped at her own stomach wondering if she gained any muscles; it didn't feel any different to her. She lifted up the sleeve of her shirt and flexed, maybe they looked stronger but not like HIS.

Peter rummaged through his draw and found a spare and clean navy t-shirt.

"I always hate this part," Peter said and he tugged off his spandex pants.

Piper wrinkled her nose. "That outfit, it smells terrible!" she cried out, wondering if he had any febreeze handy. 

"Try washing it, the dye turned nearly all my white clothes red and blue" He said and shoved the spandex under his bed.

"How do you even wear shorts under that? It didn't look like you were wearing them" Piper questioned seeing Peter was indeed wearing shorts. When ever she wore tight pants she had to suffer wearing a thong, and yet per say Spiderman definitely did not have 'panty-line'.

"You were looking?"

A crimson blush crept up Pipers cheeks, she dropped the subject.

"Come on," Peter said rolling his eyes. "We can practice a bit downstairs" he responded making a vague gesture with his hand telling Piper to follow him.

"So why did you tell me who you were?" Piper asked following Spiderman down the stairs.

"You're new here, you don't know anyone I know and you have the same abilities as me, I figure one way or the other you'd end up knowing" he shrugged.

"Don't worry; I'll keep it a secret" Piper said honestly

"I didn't doubt you wouldn't" he answered.

"Why do you trust me so much?" the girl asked curiously.

Peter didn't answer. After a few moments he continued;

"We'll get started, this is how you aim your web…"

Three hours later the apartment was covered in web and Piper had finally gotten the hang of it. She could climb walls more easily and discovered she could lift a significant amount of weight more easily than she was used to (She picked Peter's couch much to her surprise!) as well being able shoot webs fairly accurately, well most of the time.

"That's not so bad" she panted, out of breath while helping Peter take a few of the webs that blocked doorways down.

Piper looked down at her own hands…how had this happened? She didn't believe it even though it seemed very real.

"You'll get used to it don't worry".

Piper pulled down another web and scrunched it off her hands.

"So what do you do with this stuff?" she questioned.

"Like I said, it'll dissolve in a little bit, but just so I can walk through my apartment without being covered in web stuff we'll just take a bit of it down" he replied.

Piper grabbed a few more strands sticking stubbornly to the ceiling. However, while she was pulling the sticky stuff down an end stuck to a picture frame and Piper quickly used her other hand shooting out a strand of web to save the picture before the frame had a chance to break as it toppled from the counter it had been placed on.

"_Well that's useful"_ she decided.

Piper went to look at the picture in the frame. Inside was photo of a very pretty red-haired girl.

"Is this your girlfriend?" Piper asked not sure of his reaction.

"Who?" Peter asked distracted and looked up from pulling a piece of web up from under the other side of the counter. He whacked his head on the counter top as he tried to stand back up to talk to Piper.

Piper stifled a giggle as Peter rubbed his head.

"Her." Piper repeated pointing at the picture frame.

"Oh, that's Mary-Jane."

"Is she your girlfriend?" she repeated curiously.

"No."

"Why?" she wasn't sure why she asked that.

"_Because._"

"So you _do_ like her!" Piper concluded.

"I never said…" Peter responded hopelessly

"Yes you did, I can see it in your eyes." The teenage girl replied mystically. "You're not even very good at denying it!" Piper admitted that she made that part up on the spot but she thought that she was right!

"If you say so"

"You seem a little bit reserved, personal life wise." Piper observed. "_Why wouldn't he tell me? Me of all people! You'd think I'd understand him more than anyone, but still he doesn't tell me what he really thinks!" _Piper thought, "_Then again he just met me…and trusted me with a pretty big secret…I'm being irrational"_

Peter Parker shrugged; this was of no concern to him what this girl thought about him and Mary Jane.

"You might wanna get back home soon, your Dad might be worried"

"Yeah, I will" She nodded. "_He's really lonely. I didn't think that at first, does he live here all by himself?" _she tried to recall the humorous and likable Spiderman. How could Peter Parker be him if he wasn't really like that?

"Well, I'm gonna get going now…Thanks for your help! Sleep tight!" She called heading towards the nearest window.

"You too, I guess I'll be seeing you around." Peter stood up and watched Piper go out the window.

Piper was flattered; at least she hadn't offended him enough to not want her to come back.

Peter sighed. "_I hate getting people involved, it always leads to trouble."_

**The End 4- I don't like Spiders**

She was lonely at her apartment that night. Piper had unpacked most of her things; this was not her ideal way to spend her last Saturday night before starting a new school. There were still what seemed like an endless amount of boxes piled everywhere. After setting up her computer and plugging the internet cable into the jack in her room. The blonde haired girl gave up for now and decided to try and sleep. She was amazed she was able to get the computer set up properly.

She made up her bed with her old familiar comforter and sheets but found herself tossing and turning in her bed wishing sleep would take her.

"Just have to hang on until Monday when school starts" Piper murmured to herself. She wondered whether the scheduled normalcy of school was what she needed. Piper kicked off her covers, she was sweating for no particular reason, and her nerves were set on edge.

"Why can't I sleep?" she thought to herself grumbling. Piper rubbed her eyes and her hair out of her face. It was about 3am and she could still not sleep. The teenage girl had no will to drift off to the bliss of sleep even though her muscles ached she was indeed tired.

Piper got up off of her bed and stretched a little as her feet hit the ground. She wandered about in the living room and shivered a tiny bit as she neared the small baloney door.

It was as if the city was calling out her, asking her to use her powers and explore its workings.

"I can't do that." Piper said shaking her head. She ran her hand through her hair trying to contain her springing restlessness.

"No matter what I do, I'm going to have to visit you again Peter Parker."

Her heart skipped a few beats.

"What ever is bugging you Peter, I'm going to find out." She promised herself. Piper looked back into her room seeing the windowsill she had sat on earlier a day ago. She recalled her exact words:

"…_I just wish my life wasn't so boring_…" was a phrase she had pondered that particularly came to mind.

"Irony is a _bitch"_

She decided to turn on her computer and log on to aim to see if any of her friends were on. Probably not though, it was too late or early- however you wanted to say it. On of her friends Amy was on, though she was away Piper left her a message:

**Thenewcliche: **G'morning Amy, lol I can't sleep…L

**PandaPanda: ** _Away message: Sleeping! Call the cell if you need me J miss you Piper! IM me!_

Thoughts of her previous home seemed so distant now. It almost seemed like a past life. Boston was not that far away from New York City, but it was far enough away to make it difficult for her friends to visit. Piper sighed and turned off the computer she would talk to Amy tomorrow. She paused a moment and though, maybe she should take some of the empty boxes out to the dumpster.

She rubbed the sweat off her forehead as she finished moving the last of the boxes into the recycling dumpster. Her bangs, scattered across her face, tickled her skin as the cold wind blew. She was sure she had bags under her eyes. Instead of going to sleep she distracted herself by unpacking more- it was a whole lot easier with her new found strength. Plus it took her mind off the night's events.

Piper made a mental list of things to do that Sunday; they included making lunch for her Dad and taking a long hot shower for herself. Piper did not want to really do anything that required a lot of effort today unless you counting choosing between the cucumber-melon shower gel or the ocean breeze shower gel. She decided not sleeping affected her unfavorably.

She decided she should grab bring up the mail and get a newspaper. She felt inside the small mailbox and pulled out a few letters, it was mostly junk mail.

"Huh?" Piper questioned with a small noise escaping from her lips. Also inside the mailbox was a thick letter that was addressed to her.

Piper put the paper under her elbow and tore open the letter. To her delight she read the words aloud:

Dear Miss Checker,

We are pleased to inform you that you have accepted to New York University…

Piper was so excited she didn't bother to read the rest of the letter.

"I got in!" she said with cry of joy to no one in particular.

The honey-blonde haired girl rushed up the stairs with the mail clasp in her arms eager to take her shower, she had to tell her dad, and Peter too!

"Wait!" her brain stopped for a moment.

"Why do I have to tell him?" she questioned herself.

After a nice long hot shower Piper felt much more refreshed. She had time to tame down her wild hair and put in her usual clip. She heard a buzzing noise from the living room. Quickly she ran to buzz her father in.

Not surprisingly his leg was wrapped up in a cast looking thing and he sported a pair of crutches. Piper wondered how he was able to get up the stairs to the elevator.

"Dad!" she said as she open the door and her father stepped into the apartment

Piper hugged on tightly to her father.

"I missed you" She said earnestly.

"I did too"

"I have lunch for us; I made grilled cheese and tomato soup" Piper said proud of her accomplishments in the culinary arts.

"Sounds good to me," her father said smiling. He was glad she was so cheerful.

"Oh by the way, I got into NYU…" she casually said placing a bowl of tomato soup on the table in front of her father.

"That's great Piper!" he father said excitedly. "I knew you would" he added.

Piper smirked, "Of course I would! How could they reject a person like me?" Piper spun around and put on her best 'I'm-wonderful-and-you-know-it' face.

"After lunch can I go out for awhile? I found a bookstore I really liked" Piper said even though this was lying to her father. She couldn't tell him that she was going to Peter Parker's house, her father would have a fit at her going over a guy that he didn't know house, or rather apartment. She couldn't tell him what had happened to her. Piper was sure he would support her, but she would rather he didn't know. It seemed less troublesome.

"Sure thing Pip," he answered using his affectionate nickname for Piper.

"Though Piper, this is one thing about New York I have to say to you" her Dad said rather solemnly.

"Huh?" Piper questioned. Was this going to be the 'don't take candy from strangers lecture?

"If you _ever_ become a Yankees fan, I don't know what I'm going to do with myself…"

Piper laughed out loud, "Dad just because I'm going to college in New York doesn't mean I won't support your Red Socks fandom!"

"Good," he smiled "Because its 2004, I can feel it! This is gonna be our year!"

Piper sighed, she could care less about baseball, "Dad you say that _every year._"

After Piper ate and promised her Dad that she would be back at a reasonable hour (Her father knew how she tended to get lost in books- she was an avid reader) Piper Elizabeth Checker was allowed to leave the 'house'. Quickly she climbed up the nearest building wall and prepared to sling through the city.

"_It's faster than taking a bus…"_ she decided putting out her hand and began swinging.

Fortunately Peter only lived a good ten minutes of web slinging away from Piper. When she saw the building she made a turn in and jumped up on the open windowsill and climbed through it in one swift motion. It was easy to do now if she just trusted her newfound instincts.

"Peter!" she called out leaving his room and running down the stairs, "Guess what?" she called out.

"PIPER?" Peter shouted nearly spitting out the soda he had been drinking.

"How did you-.." he began. There was a knock on his door. Peter cast Piper a suspicious glance as he went to open the door.

"Hey Tiger!" it was the redheaded girl from the picture.

"MJ!" Peter said smiling. All traces of previous emotions from his face vanished instantly.

The girl waltzed into the room and hugged him. Piper could tell just by what she was wearing that this "MJ" was a preppy girl. A low cut sky blue shirt, low-rise jeans and a perfect body to go with it? This girl had definitely been a popular high school prep. As much as Piper wanted to dislike her immediately Mary Jane emanated warmth and kindness; she saw just why Peter liked her so much.

"Piper, this is Mary Jane Watson" Peter introduced.

"I'm Piper Checker" she said walking down the stairs to shake hands with MJ.

"Hi, nice to meet you! Are you a friend of Peter's?" she asked in a very friendly tone. It seemed more so curious that Peter had a girl in his apartment.

"Yeah, we just met" Piper said raising an eyebrow. Piper could tell Peter was _crazy_ for this girl; he looked out of his mind deliriously happy at this exact moment.

"How long have you known him?" Piper asked out of curiosity.

"Since I was six, we were neighbors" MJ explained.

"Wow, that…long?" Piper said stuttering on her own words, man this guy was totally hopeless in love.

"I just wanted to stop by to tell you I got into NYU Peter." Piper said sharing her once exciting news.

"That's certainly good news, are you going to go?" he asked, still mostly looking at Mary Jane.

"Yeah, I think I am." Piper responded to him. Piper could have said she was really going to the moon for college and Peter wouldn't have noticed.

"Do you live near here?" Mary Jane asked quizzically.

"On the other side of town, not too far away." The cinnamon brown-eyed girl answered.

"You want anything to drink MJ?" Peter offered.

"No thanks, just wanted to know if you wanted to have dinner with me tonight so we could catch up; we haven't been able to in awhile since I was in that play- that is if you're not busy…" the marvelously pretty girl asked him.

"Sure, I'm not doing anything." Peter said trying to sound casual.

"Well, I'm going to get going now…I have a lot of errands to run…" Piper said. She felt like the third wheel, "Bye!" she exited the door quickly.

Piper closed the dark wooden door and slid against a near by hallway wall.

"Why do I feel like this?" she wondered. Piper dashed to the nearest window and climbed out of it. She found the zenith of the building and sat up on top of it looking down at the city. She took in a deep breath of the cold air.

"He's happy, she's perfect and I'm a freak. I should feel nothing because he's not even nice and I'm not even like her and I'm not as pretty and good as her and I don't even like him…well he is nice, I mean he helped me…but that doesn't mean I want to date him!" Piper rambled on until she was sure she convinced herself that Peter Parker was no good for her.

"I didn't even need to tell myself this in the _first place,_" still there was that sinking feeling in her stomach….

All of a sudden, time seemed to have slowed. She saw a man hanging of the edge of a near by window. Piper didn't even have to think her body immediately responded.

She jumped off the building as her thoughts were cleansed by a new state of mind with a clear black and white mission to rescue someone.

"I'm not going to tell you were Hilary is Mathews" the man muttered trying to keep himself from falling. Try as he might, he could not get a better grip on the concrete ledge. The man's eye was swollen and a large gash on his cheek told Piper that there had been a fight going on earlier.

A bigger man standing on the building smirked. "What a pity. I thought we could use you, I guess not." and with that he grinded his boot on top of the man's fingers crushing them with a sickening crunch. The man let out a blood curdling yell.

Piper fortunately jumped onto the building just in time, she punched the man called "Mathews" with a swift blow to the head that contained all her fury and leapt off the building to catch the other man. She made barely it; saving the man by literally a thread. She dropped the man off on the ground and webbed away as fast as she could. It had been an isolated incident; she didn't think anyone had seen her face.

The adrenaline was still rushing to her through her veins.

"No, I can't do this…" Piper said to herself. But what was so wrong about saving the man's life? Why did she regret it? What was holding her back? She looked at her wrist, swollen slightly from web slinging use. For some reason they disgusted her.

"I can't… I don't want to…I don't have the will to…" She repeated to herself. Piper slowly rubbed her eye and prevented any emotions from showing. _How can I save people if I can't deal with myself? I don't want these powers!_

"I won't don't it…"

Peter Parker, as he stepped out of his apartment building caught the last glimpse of Piper's triumph, but he also saw the look on Piper's face, a total look a solid concentration, and when she had saved the man her face just sort of turned into an expression of shock, horror and regret.

"Why?" he murmured aloud.

"What was that?" MJ asked curiously.

"Nothing…" he said shaking his head.


	3. Past and Present

**The End 5- Memories of Before**

Piper's memories resurfaced the night before school. This was not a good thing for the teenage girl, who was already nervous about the first day of her new school.

"_The only worth",_ Piper began to think "Of _going back to school now is for the senior prom_, (Though she didn't know who she would bring, maybe she would ask her friend Josh from Massachusetts to go with her) _and staying in school just to make sure I can still go to college_"

Piper just couldn't help but think back to her old home.

"I thought I was leaving that all behind me," she muttered to herself.

Flash back

"I just thought that after all, you might want to come to stay with me for awhile." Her mother gently persuaded the sixteen-year-old Piper.

"You think you can just waltz into my life right now and be my mother? Where were you? Why now!" Piper yelled back having seen her mother for the first time in person. "How could you leave me in the first place!" Piper didn't know what she was supposed to do or say.

Her father had invited her mother over for a simple dinner, Piper had been nervous the whole day. When finally at last she came they all sat down talked nervously and to Piper's surprise they even got along well. Her mother seemed like a distant Aunt rather than well…a mother. Everything was going smoothly but when her Mother suggested if Piper ever wanted to live with her; that she was welcome it made Piper's blood boil. That's what started Piper's screaming match with her mother.

Her father was off in the background watching stoically. As much as he wanted to keep his little girl with him, he felt in a sort of righteous nature that Piper should spend time with her mother. But part of him didn't want to have her leave with her mother because he couldn't stand the thought that he was going to let her stay with the person that had left her shortly after birth. Their relationship deteriorated over that. He couldn't understand why she had said to him "_I can't…"_

"I've been a bad parent, heck I haven't been one at all! I just want you to give me a chance. I'm sorry Piper." Her mother reasoned with her in a sad tone.

"_She finally said 'I'm sorry'…finally" _Ed thought to himself.

"Why should I? You didn't give me a chance! I'll never live with you!" and with that outburst of hot angry tears Piper dashed up the stairs.

"Give her some time Suze." Ed said comfortingly to his ex-wife.

Susan looked at him with and expression that was too indescribable for words.

"I don't think…I'll ever be able to say sorry in a way that would mean anything to her." She said with her voice shaking.

"Tell her," Piper's mother continued, "that if she ever needs me, I'll be here, no matter what. This time for real" And she handed Ed a piece of paper with a phone number written on it.

"I'll give it to her." He promised.

End Flash Back 

Piper fingered the piece of paper in her hand. The piece was now crumpled and wrinkled. Many times she had thought about calling it, but never did. How long did she cry that day? She cried about how life could have been like with her, having a whole family…cried until she thought her insides would dribble out through her tears.

"How could I have been so unforgiving?" she wondered recalling the moment feeling slightly guilty at her harsh words to her mother. She felt she might never even call the unoffending number out of pure guilt.

Piper glanced over at her digital clock. The red digits told her it was around 11 pm.

The teenage girl got up and stuffed an extra pillow under her covers and closed the door to her room. She didn't even care that she was still in her pajamas as she opened her window.

Without hesitating she knew her exact destination.

"It's really…pretty up here" Mary Jane said for lack of other words.

"I thought you might like it" Spiderman said smiling underneath his mask. Peter knew what café Mary Jane was working at and what time she just happened to be getting out; so with a cunning plan he pulled on his Spiderman costume and offered her a web slinging ride home. However, he took a small detour.

MJ admired her surroundings and gave Spiderman a rare smile.

Not far away Piper was swinging furiously to this private garden of relaxation. She wanted to see it again; it was the most important place to her at the moment. It was the only part of New York she really knew.

To her horror however, Spiderman and Mary Jane were on the roof. Quickly she clung onto the building wall hoping they would go away soon. "_Typical! Just Typical!"_

Try as Piper might, she could not block out the sound of the two talking.

"Who are you?" she asked inquisitively.

"Wouldn't you like to know?" He teased.

"Come on you can tell me!" MJ begged, hoping he might tell her. "At least give me a hint!"

"You know…I…I…" Spiderman stumbled in his words.

Piper peeked up from edge of the building. He was really hopeless; he was floundering. Peter must have seen her peek her head up because his gaze was now directed in her general direction. Mary Jane's attention was still all focused on Spiderman. Suddenly and idea occurred to Piper. She mouthed a few words to Peter.

"I…um hope you don't mind." Peter glanced over back at Piper to continue the three-way conversation. "That I put down in words…um how wonderful life is now um that you're in the world".

"So forgive me for forgetting." Piper hinted at Spiderman and he repeated.

"But these things I do, you see I've forgotten if they're green of if they're blue"

Piper rolled his eyes, he was hopeless, and obviously never saw Moulin Rouge before.

"But what the thing is, what I really mean err you've got the sweetest eyes I've ever seen"

Piper could tell by the look in Mary Jane's eyes the choice of her words had the desired effect. Even if Mary Jane had in fact seen Moulin Rouge the words were still sweet regardless.

The teenage girl waited as Spiderman (holding Mary Jane) swung off into the night. Now she could have some time alone in such a pretty place. She sighed. She had no idea why she felt the urge to help Peter but clearly the boy needed some help in the romance department. Now wasn't the time to think of such things; she needed to ponder her own introspection.

Piper could now think clearly, she felt like she had the city all to herself. A city that seemed to need her abilities in the same way it needed Peter's abilities.

"_Me? A hero? Yeah right_" Piper silently commented. "_I don't know how he does it_" The girl stared off in the distance for a bit.

She thought about a lot of things; her dad, her life and what was going to happen to her. It never occurred to Piper before that something like this was possible, and that there must be some believable wacky scientific concept behind mutating spider genes.

"Why would anyone ever _want_ to do that?" Piper shuddered. She wasn't even aware she said it aloud.

"Do what?" a voice said from behind her.

Piper jumped up. "Peter! You scared me!" Piper took a closer look; he was still in costume. "Excuse me I mean _Spiderman_"

Peter peeled off his mask. "It's getting hot under here" he complained and then noticed Piper in her pink fuzzy sheep pajamas. He cracked a smile. "What are you doing up here? Isn't it kind of late?"

"I needed to get out of the house. I have to start school tomorrow" Piper said noticing the suspicious look Spiderman was giving her.

"So how did your big date go?" Piper asked curiously; Piper was more referring to what had just happened but Peter and MJ also had gone out to lunch earlier.

"It was good, we got to catch up" he said smiling not even bothering to argue that it wasn't a date.

"What about the whole Spiderman thing? Are you that chicken?" the girl rolled her eyes at Peter who didn't seem to have an answer for her.

"All that and you're _still_ just _friends_?" the short-blonde haired girl stated as if this was a crime to humanity.

"Well…yeah…"

Piper grabbed Peter's mask from his hand and shoved it over her face.

"Oh, I'm Spiderman." She began imitating a voice that was much deeper than her own. "I'm soooooo badass and I'm madly in love with Mary Jane! I don't have the balls to tell her though because I'm soooo bashful!" Piper imitated.

The teenage girl pulled off the mask smirking at her joke. Peter however was not.

Piper then suddenly felt really guilty.

"Hey it was a joke…I mean I thought…oh I'm sorry Peter…I didn't mean to hurt you…"

The girl could not stand Peter Parker's stoically sadden stare.

"I really care a lot about MJ…" He said stating this fact to Piper. Peter glanced out at the distance, focusing on the skyline instead of Piper.

"I know it's just…" Piper started. In a second of revelation she clapped her hand over her mouth with discovery. "You can't tell her! You're afraid she'll get hurt! That's what's been eating at you. _I am so stupid_!"

"I see her almost every day" Peter's voice spoke threatening to show emotion.

"And I tell myself: You can't love her if you will endanger her life. When I just want to go and tell her how I feel. She doesn't even know who I really _am_."

"That's terrible!" Piper exclaimed outraged. "And you have to _live_ with that!"

"But I told her, I would always be there to protect her" he said in a sad tone. "And I always will."

"Oh Peter…" Piper hung her sadly hearing Peter's words. He was so **damn **noble. "But who's going to protect **you**? Who's going to tell you its okay when you're down and out?" she paused; she knew he didn't have anyone to tell things like these to. "I'll protect you Peter."

"_The way you protect Mary Jane…"_ she added silently.

"That makes me worry more." he frowned.

"This is the only thing you have to worry about" Piper handed him his mask.

She really did mean to hand the piece of fabric that kept his identity safe back to him, she really did. But instead she felt herself being pulled in towards him closer and closer.

Piper was an inch away from his face. "Good night" she whispered and meant to turn away but she couldn't. Quickly of her own free will she lifted her lips met his and she kissed him in one swift motion. It was short because as soon as she realized what she was doing and how much Mary Jane meant to him she stopped, dashed towards the edge of the building and swung away as fast as she could.

Spiderman stood there utterly shocked at Piper's reaction.

"Stupid, stupid, stupid!" were the thoughts that ran through Piper's head.

"Why did I do that? He doesn't like me! I know how much he cares for Mary Jane, so why did I do that?"

Piper crawled in through her window and sat on her bed. "I'm never going to be able to face Peter Parker again!"

**The End 6 'Coffee Shop of Horrors'**

_The End_

School was a relief to Piper as she walked through the hallway carrying an arm full of books and an empty backpack slung over her shoulder carelessly.

"Not even heavy" Piper decided, even though her new powers most likely had something to do with this. At least there was something good about them.

It was about fourth period the teenage girl noticed according to the clock in the hall way as she stood against her locker. That meant it was time for English, if she could even find her class. Piper consulted her schedule "English Rm. 201" she said aloud to herself.

The cinnamon-eyed girl was currently on the basement floor with a limited time to get up to class.

"Shoot!" she said absentmindedly running to the near stairs. Not only did she have to run up at least four flights of stairs but the classroom was also on the opposite side of the building- being the furthest away possible from Piper's current spot.

Piper looked around, there wasn't anybody using that stair case…she wasted no time and jumped up flight to flight, until she landed on the 4th floor.

Just as Piper's hand touched the doorknob the bell rang.

The blonde-haired girl sighed in relief. "Made it" she huffed.

"Come in," the teacher said. "You must be our new student, Piper."

Piper tried her hardest to stay awake. The class was starting Shakespeare's _Hamlet_ in which Piper found to be the craziest play she had ever read. At her old school she had already read this. The class was taking on roles of the characters and reading their lines aloud.

"There are more things in heaven and Earth Horatio than are dreamt of in your philosophies" a student read; this quote snapped Piper out of her daydream.

"_How right you are Hamlet…"_

So far Piper really hadn't talked to anyone that day. She meant socialize as much as possible but whenever the chance presented itself she always found herself with the feeling of panic that she had to rush to her next class before she was late.

She did however, this morning help a poor freshman that had a locker next to her, get his locker open because it got stuck on something. Piper guessed some of his classmates had taken great pleasure in jamming his locker. The thought alone of someone doing this to his poor locker made Piper almost rip the door to his locker off, but fortunately she didn't. The boy (looking kind of nerdy) smiled and thanked her profusely.

The teenage girl couldn't help it, if she was a Good Samaritan after all.

"Not like _him_ who single handedly saves New York." Piper muttered under her breath.

Piper mentally slapped herself. She was thinking of _him_ again. Like always.

"_Why can't I get you out of my head!"_ she silently thought to herself.

Piper mentally thought of the brief lip locking she shared with him last night. She had enjoyed it for about all of a split second before she realized what she was doing.

"_Not that I wouldn't want to explore the inner caverns of his throat._" Piper thought to herself.

There was only one thing in the universe that Piper hated with all her heart right now.

And that person was Mary Jane Watson.

Mary Jane as we now speak was in a pleasant mood for her audition at the moment, and her prospects certainly looked good for the young red head who was an aspiring stage actress. She thought her audition for Cecily in '_The Importance of Being Earnest'_ by Oscar Wilde had gone quite well.

After a long day of performing her heart out and putting on her best smile, Mary Jane was ready to go home and take a nice long bath to soothe her aching feet that had been in painfully high heels but however she could not because she had to work to make ends meet. Landing small roles did not help out much with her already tight budget. So MJ retained her job working at a small local café.

But before she went off to work, she had to stop by Peter's. She wanted to ask him if she left her makeup compact at his apartment, it was missing from her purse.

MJ knocked on Peter's apartment door.

"Hold on!" a voice called from the other side.

Mary Jane smiled, Peter was the most adorable person alive, probably picking up his apartment a little for a guest.

The door opened.

"Hi MJ!" greeted Peter with a smile on his face that conveyed the thought of "pretty girl"

"Hiya Tiger" she smiled.

"Come in! Come in! I was just picking up my mess from earlier," Peter explained kicking random objects on the floor away from the path they were walking. In one of his hands was a coffee pot, in the other was mug, it appeared Peter was having a rough afternoon and needed a caffeine buzz.

"You want a cup?" Peter offered.

"Sure, that would be great" Mary Jane pleasantly agreed.

Peter took the mug in his hand and poured her a cup. "Want cream or sugar?" Mary Jane nodded took in the heavily scented aroma.

Peter went to his fridge and discovered he had neither cream nor sugar. He winced "sorry I don't seem to have either…" he usually drank his coffee black.

"That's fine" she nodded, he was so disheveled! It was pretty cute.

"So what have you been doing?" Peter asked looking for a mug for himself.

"I was just auditioning for a play," MJ said sipping her coffee. "How are things going at the daily Bugle? I heard there was a break in last week and Spiderman trashed the place."

Peter almost dropped the mug he was holding, that incident hadn't been _his_ fault. He didn't exactly try to tell the person who was breaking in to be careful and not break anything in the process of a fight.

"Wow, really? I didn't hear much about it only Jameson's screaming." He laughed nervously- it was only a partial lie.

"I personally think Spiderman works for that place because of all the exclusive photos they get, oh and can I have another cup?" Mary Jane asked holding up her mug.

Peter Parker's face faulted.

"Sure thing." Peter said relieved she changed the subject, lifting the coffee pot taking his mind off what Mary Jane had said because she could not possibly know-

The thing was his hand was still shaking at the thought of her KNOWING so when he went to pour her coffee, he accidentally spilled it on her blouse.

"I'm sorry!" Peter apologized quickly as MJ jumped back wiping her blouse praying that the stain wasn't too bad.

"Shoot!" she said quickly realizing she had to wear this to work.

"Do you have a sweat shirt or something I could borrow?"

"I'll get one…sorry about that" Peter said feeling pretty stupid at his lack of hand control.

"It's okay, really" MJ said unbuttoning her blouse.

Piper had and okay day, well a day that was fine as any school day could have been.

"_I'm just going to go find him and tell him I'm sorry or something because I didn't mean to do that…err yeah…it will come to me_" Piper said to herself formulating a plan.

As much as she knew she would never be able to meet Peter Parker in person again with out some embarrassment, she would have to face him and Piper was stubborn and she liked getting things done, so she figured it would be useless to mull over such a situation for days. This was the reason Piper set a course straight to his apartment. With of course a little detour of jumping over a few buildings and slinging over a few roofs, "Hey, it was quicker and beats taking a bus!"

Piper considered going through his window, in which she had done once but decided against it because she wanted to be more formal "_And besides, there could be someone in there!"_

So needless to say, Piper took the stairs.

Gathering all her will power she clutched the door knob and twisted it open, knowing she wouldn't have the strength to knock because she would just stare at the door for an hour or more.

Piper swung the door open quickly, winced, opened her mouth to immediately apologize and say something that was close to being intelligent, "I'M SORRY PETER I-

However, much to her surprise Mary Jane was standing in the middle of the living room with her shirt unbuttoned. Peter was holding his sweatshirt in his hands and they were close together. Piper stood there like a deer in the head light for a split second before promptly slamming the door closed again.

That was a _bad_ scene to enter upon.

The short blonde haired girl decided that this sort of bad day required special circumstances; in this case the special circumstance was a slice chocolate crème pie, yes a nice big slice to comfort her and help her forget about the homework that she had been assigned. Piper didn't have to look far because she saw a small café near by that would most likely have what she was looking for.

So as she walked down the street, hand in pocket Piper felt extremely embarrassed. "_Of all the times to not knock on a door!"_ All she had to do was _knock_ and this whole thing could have been avoided. Plus she was almost about to blurt out she kissed Peter in front of Mary Jane! Today was a stressful and unlucky day.

"_He's probably not even thinking about it, how could have been so stupid? Why did I do it?"_

Piper pushed the doors to the diner open forcefully and plopped herself down at a vacant table. She had a good ten minutes of thinking time before she was served upon. Piper heard from the kitchen a little bit of shouting. One of the waitresses had been late, and it wasn't the first time. So when the waitress finally came to her table, Piper didn't even bother to look up. She just wanted to lie dead at that very moment from her day's events.

"Please, I'll have a slice of chocolate crème pie, a BIG one."

"Okay, I'll be right out with it- hey! Piper, is that you?" The waitress asked in a sweet voice.

Piper put her head up. Standing in front of her was none other than Mary Jane.

"_Of all the people…"_ Piper silently thought. Several choice curse words came immediately to mind.

"Yes, it's me." she said almost glaring at Mary Jane. "I'm really sorry about walking on you like that" _Only not really, because I don't like you._

"Oh it's no problem; I just had a little coffee stain on my blouse and Peter lent me his sweatshirt" she said pointing to the baggy blue sweatshirt she was now wearing "You look like you had a rough day though" MJ said concernedly.

Piper could have died right then and there. It wasn't even as bad as she had thought! She heaved a sigh of relief.

"Yea, I did first day of new school" she responded.

"That must be rough for you! I know the first day of high school was hard for me to." MJ answered trying to sympathize.

Piper snorted. "_Yeah right"_ She thought, seeing the pretty, perfect and no doubt popular little Miss Mary Jane. _Wait? Did she say '**first day** of high school'?_

The teenage girl lay back in her seat still a little unnerved and annoyed by the whole situation. All she wanted was chocolate crème pie!

"Oh, school wasn't too bad" Piper commented.

"Ohhhh I see! That time of the month, you'll get used to it." The redhead said sagely

Piper choked for a moment.

"Eh…" Apparently Mary Jane thought she was little kid.

"I'm eighteen…." Piper sputtered out. She did **not** need girly talk from Mary Jane!

Mary Jane blushed for a moment, "I'll get you your pie. Don't worry this one's on the house" the waitress said getting up to get Piper her dessert.

Mary Jane returned shortly with a plate in hand and now had an apron on that she probably forgot to put on earlier.

Piper eagerly started to work on devouring her pie wanting to get out as quickly as possible.

Mary Jane sat down across from her, having no work to do because the place was empty at this time of day.

Piper looked up from her pie, wondering why MJ had chosen to sit near her. If she wanted to bond with Piper then she had obviously gotten the wrong impression.

"So I hear," Piper began "that you know Spiderman."

Mary Jane nodded "I do, he's saved me quite a few times."

Piper rolled her eyes; Peter Parker was hopeless, cute but hopeless.

"So what are you taking in college?" Piper questioned and then took a bit of her quite delicious pie.

"Acting, I'm working on becoming an actress; Peter's been great he's encouraged me the whole way" Mary Jane smiled.

Piper guessed Mary Jane had always been the lead female role in every school play, but before MJ had told her about her aspiring acting career Piper had always thought she was a model for something or other, it seemed like a job that was fitting for a person like Mary Jane. The kind of person that was so pretty and nice that you couldn't hate her no matter how hard you tried or how popular she was. Even so Piper still felt a slight resentment for the affections Peter displayed towards the strawberry blonde.

Piper felt a small pang of jealously run up her spine, but it was quickly forgotten because she remembered herself that she did not even like Peter Parker, the hero and savior of New York. After all a person such a Peter Parker deserved a girl like Mary Jane who obviously just regarded him as a friend and didn't pay attention to him at all in high school.

This sort of thing bugged Piper.

"I really have to get going, it's getting late." Piper said pointing her thumb outside.

"It was nice to talk to you." MJ commented.

Piper nodded as she walked out the door. She did not know how to feel about Mary Jane; after all she was human and nice enough. But deep down Piper knew she had feelings that would have to go unexpressed.


	4. That's Not Funny

**The End 7- 'I'm not going to Cry'**

Mary Jane wasn't the smartest person on this side of the Earth, but she did have the best and most pure hearted of intentions. She was a gentle and kind person but Piper felt MJ had something that she didn't. And for the life of her, Piper could not figure out what that something was. Mary Jane was an enchantress of emotions, temptress of passion and a very compelled and determined person. The girl took care of herself well and held her head up high.

Piper was not like Mary Jane in the least bit. She didn't care what people thought about her, if she knew she was _good enough_, than she was. Piper did not need anybody to tell her that.

And yet, at this very moment Piper wanted to hear some words of encouragement from someone, because after all nobody wants to live a solitary lonely life, she wanted to be recognized as someone important! _Someone that meant something to somebody! _That somebody being Peter, but all Piper could think of at the moment was: "_I'd like to see Peter Parker again" _

She and Mary Jane were more alike than they thought.

"_MJ…the girl Peter liked even before he liked girls…_" Piper silently mused to herself on top of a nearby building. She had gone home to do her homework but she didn't stay for long. Now that she didn't have to be cooped up, she explored her vast freedom often.

Piper never had a boyfriend before, and did not understand why she was thinking such traitorous thoughts to her personal beliefs. Boys were scum; they would only hurt and use you! Why spend time with them as boyfriends! They made much better friends to play sports or video games with. At least, that's what Piper thought.

Why did Peter Parker change at that for her? She knew next to nothing about him, other than his most coveted secret of course. But it would be nice to know the guy a little more before finding out the juicy gossipy part of his life. Hey, maybe even just getting to know him a little better. Perhaps over a coffee or something? No time for that, Piper always did rush into things and act on her own emotions. That seemed too dull anyway. "_He's the root of this confusion"_ she grumbled mentally. Just as she had thought that she saw Spiderman's figure swing overhead and down to a near by alleyway.

"Speak of the devil" She mumbled.

It was indeed the person that caused the teenage girl these confusing thoughts. At the current moment he was fending of a bunch of criminals. Nothing really out of the ordinary, to say in the least, or at least in their situation it was _normal_. It was normal at least for him anyway, who had probably been hurled through a few building in his hero career. A few scratches and bruises from a couple of thugs wouldn't faze him now. This was the mundane everyday routine for him. If Piper only realized that it wasn't…She eyed the situation almost lazily.

It was then Piper eyed one particular thug; he held a metal crowbar that would certainly leave a mark upon impact. That was when she realized: "_I could save him from a little less pain in the morning" _

And it was that phrase that struck Piper. She could save him from a small amount of pain. Even helping a little, didn't that matter? Sure no one could fix every problem in the world, but if she helped out when she could, wouldn't that save someone from a little less pain?

It was then and there Piper decided to use her web to disarm Spiderman's opponent.

She swung down and proceeded to knock down a person creeping up on the spandex clad man who already had his hands full. The man dropped the crow bar and it made loud _clank_ on the wet pavement. _THUD! _The attacker dropped to the ground as well.

With only one thug left Spiderman took care of the last one with a good, strong and well-aimed right hook to the man's jaw that made a satisfying crunch upon impact. The noise of cop cars near by assured the two crime fighters that their actions were about to be paid off and the attackers would be subject to the law of New York City.

"_Ah, the hero's dream"_

And no one would ever know they had done it.

"That grin of yours is almost disarming, Piper" Spiderman said on top of his apartment roof.

He was dressed in his normal clothes, seeing no reason to stand around in an outfit that a passing by helicopter might take notice of. Peter Parker's normal clothes consisted off usual navy v-neck sweater and his oldest, most comfortable khaki's.

Piper was sitting on the side of Peter's roof enjoying his confused reaction. It did not bother her now that Peter was standing right next to her. In fact during the day she almost never came into contact with him. It always seemed like at night on a rooftop is where they always met.

"Disarming? How so?" the blonde-haired girl said unconcerned about the man behind her.

"Like you coming down and helping me, I thought you didn't like that"

"Hey!" Piper commented. "I saved you a couple bruises didn't I?"

"Yeah but…" Peter started.

"Isn't that good enough?" she asked staring straight ahead. Piper couldn't look him in the eye, _she just couldn't_. It wasn't that she was afraid of him or what he might say. No, it was more like a fear that he would get in her heart. She couldn't let that happen, no matter what her heart was telling her and no matter how much it hurt. _But you know he's already in there…_She thought that if she didn't look at him, maybe he wouldn't get caught in it.

"_I'm not going to lose my heart to you, not here and not now"_ she silently thought.

"There's more behind it though" Peter said knowingly.

Piper cringed. He was smarter than she took him for. Ever so slowly she turned around masking the slight shine in her eyes, the flutter of her heart and the fact that her heart was now in her throat. She sighed, even though it was more like a heave of air coming up from her lungs slowly and in nervous intervals.

"Do you really need my reason? Remember, you're not involved with me, right?" The teenage girl said as her voice quivered with uncertainty.

For the first time in her life at this very moment she felt like every other teenage girl who was standing next to a person they really cared about. It was unnerving and a whole new experience for Piper to base her feelings on someone she barely knew. It was something about him…something about Mary Jane. Something Piper could not figure out.

"As I recall you did seem to want to be involved with me." He commented. He might have been mentioning what just had occurred or he might have been mentioning the kiss Piper had given him. Piper wasn't sure which.

She wanted to say 'Sorry' she wanted to apologize. But she didn't. She didn't because she wasn't sorry.

"I would tell you I'm sorry, but I'm really not so I can't say that"

Now it was Peter Parker's turn to be confused. Before Piper was much more open to him, as well as easygoing. He sort of felt it was partly his own fault for pushing her to the side. After all she was in just about the same position he was in. The brown-haired man knew that he wasn't the best person in the world to deal with people's emotions but it seemed Piper was copying this unfeeling, 'I-have-to-do-it-out-of-love' mission statement. When confined with a choice, was this the first and only option?

Piper looked down waiting for Peter to say something sagely and that everything she had done ultimately had a consequence.

But he didn't.

"I'm sorry for confusing you Piper; I know you're going through a rough time right now and I certainly haven't been able to help as much as I should have…I hope I didn't hurt you." Peter said in a slightly bashful way now fully considering his actions and everything he had missed.

"It's okay." Piper said getting up trying to cheerfully smile, not wanting Peter to she her vulnerable face. "I understand."

"_You have Mary Jane after all"_

And Piper left the roof, like she always did.

With a Graceful leap down Piper wanted badly to cry. But she didn't because the tears wouldn't come. With a loud thump she landed on the pavement and ran her heart out. The cold steam rose from the ground on the wet pavement. Piper just ran, through almost empty streets, past stores and at least twelve 7-11's, which by the way were not open even though the sighed said "Open 24/7!"

"_I'm not going to cry"_ was the only thought in her mind.

That fact that it was dark out didn't help either. Piper assumed she was supposed to be home and her Dad was worrying. It still didn't cross her mind though. Because most of it was concentrating on how she could make Peter understand, for some odd reason something she wanted him to know. She wanted him to know she wasn't an inconsiderate, uncaring person. She wanted to show him that she could make a difference and make sacrifices, and that she was capable of loving too.

Even if she had lacked an important figure in her life, her mother. It wasn't like he knew about that anyway.

Piper didn't blame her mother because she didn't believe she had been brought up wrong. She loved living with her father and she loved him. It was just Piper had never asked her father for the girly sort of growing up topics. Piper wasn't embarrassed about it, it was just that the other girls had their mother's to go to and well Piper didn't… and she felt a loss at that. And she didn't understand why. She didn't understand a lot of things.

Piper searched in her pocket for a slip of paper. The old piece of paper that she never wanted to use in her life. The piece of paper that was her link to the past she never wanted learn about. The blonde-haired girl took a deep breath as she stepped up to the nearest pay phone.

"_Mom, please tell me how to be a hero" _

And she dialed the number.

**The End 8 'That's not funny'**

Suze had just gotten ready for bed after her boyfriend Jesse had left for the night.

Tonight she opened the draw in her bedside table and looked for an aspirin for a small headache she'd had. Rummaging through the draw she came across a picture Ed had sent her of Piper. It was Piper's senior picture. That little girl she barely had ever seen was eighteen years old. She paused for a moment to look at the photo. Piper seemed happy and content. If Piper was happy then that had to be enough for her.

She knew Piper had her cell phone number. Suze kept the same number in case Piper ever needed to talk her in or she was in trouble. The cell phone went everywhere with her, she felt it was a necessary duty to carry it.

She asked herself over and over again why she had left her little girl. But no answer came to mind. She had left Ed too, and that had hurt him. Ed was a good and responsible man. Suze at that age was young, wild and free. When Piper was born she saw her freedom go out the window and panicked. It was so selfish.

Suze reached over to turn off the lights when a ring came from the phone. She leaned over to pick up the phone but did not recognize the number.

"Hello?"

Piper didn't know what to think. At first it took at least three rings for her to pick up, and then she heard a 'hello!' and her jaw sort of dropped for a split second in the realization that this could be her mother.

"Hel-lo?" she stuttered nervously "Is Suze there?"

"Piper?" the voice said in the same tone. She could not believe it. The voice she was wearing had to be Piper's!

"Yeah…that's me." Suze responded just in case it was not her daughter but she was sure it had to be "Piper?" she asked slowly.

Piper responded choking back her tears. "Right now, I'm in New York using a pay phone and I just needed to call you. I would use a cell phone but Dad doesn't believe in them." she added with a small laugh through hazy eyes.

Suze felt a wave of relief sweep through her.

"I want you to know, I don't hate you." Piper said at last.

Suze stopped her daughter from saying any more, "If anyone should be apologizing, that should be me" her mother said seriously. "Just tell me what's wrong Piper."

"It's…about...It's about me".

"Go on" her mother encouraged her drinking in Piper's every word being able to comfort her daughter after all these years was the best thing she could have asked for at that moment.

"I think I want to help people but I just keep thinking that how even if I try I will only end up hurting someone."

Piper's mother laughed a small laugh before the tears of joy came to her eyes.

"Sometimes, Piper you have to put that behind you, and do it because you have the freedom to. You have to make your own mistakes and you have to learn from them. Once you do, you can find your happiness with no regrets. So whatever you're doing, give it a chance."

"I was just so afraid of hurting someone" Piper said concernedly. _Give it a chance?_

"Don't hurt yourself in the process Piper." Suze advised.

Piper's spirits were lifted up. She wanted to talk to her mom more, but realized her dad was going to be worried.

"Look mom, I'd like to talk more but Dad's gonna be looking for me. You want the apartment phone number?"

"Yes, I'd like that very much." Suze said feeling the joy that her daughter was bringing her back into her life.

After a long series of goodbyes Piper hung up the phone and departed for home.

When Piper cracked open the door to the apartment her Dad was sitting at the table typing on his laptop for work.

"Sorry I'm late." Piper said muttering her apologies even though she still had at least a half an hour before her curfew.

"Its okay, you're not in trouble."

"I called mom." Piper said. Piper resisted the urge to ask about the cell phone thing again out of unconscious sarcasm.

Ed looked up surprised.

"I think I'm ready to talk with her in person again." the teenager said lifting the dull expression from her face. "If that's okay with you."

"You know me," her father said. "I'm happy when you are."

Piper went over and hugged her understanding father.

"Thanks dad." and she went into her room.

Piper knew everything was coming together. What her mother told her made a lot of sense. She felt she was ready to don a costume.

"_Besides,"_ she thought.

"_It will certainly shock him"_

Beth Hammond was definitely not happy with her failing career at the moment.

"Those bastards at the T.V. station…" she murmured as she walked down the street.

Beth was a news reporter for a local station, and the whole place was abuzz with the prospect of firing her because of the co-worker rivalries with 'who-could-come-up-with-the-best-story' and Beth wasn't doing so great, she hadn't been able to find a top story important enough to compete with them.

It was her utmost dream to be in the spot-light of a T.V. camera with millions of viewers turning to her for their viewing pleasure. She thought about the wardrobe she would have to acquire so she would look appropriate for all her adoring T.V. audiences. She would be so famous she would even make guest appearances on 'Good Morning America'.

However, that aspect of her work life wasn't going to well. Her tan coat whipped against her sides showing the pace of her feet as her heels clicked on the ground in an angry manner.

Beth was always well dressed and fashionable. She sincerely doubted that there was a better-dressed news reporter than her in the whole state of New York.

The curly black-haired woman was practically made out for this sort of job, and if she had not been a news reporter she would have most certainly been a very successful actress. Many of her co-workers called her over dramatic. Beth didn't consider herself to be dramatic. She considered herself a person who aspired for her goals and to earn them with whatever means necessary.

"What I need is a miracle now." She uttered under her breath.

That's when Beth heard a shout from a nearby ally way. Out of curiosity she went to investigate.

There were two figures, one slightly shorter than the other. As she crept in closer she definitely knew one of them was Spiderman, and perhaps someone dressed just like him.

Beth reached for her note pad and pen in her pocket. She also pulled out her cell phone. It was a camera phone. She grinned. She was going to be rich.

"What do you mean, 'I-can't-do-this?" Piper said dressed in a Spiderman costume she had cleverly stole from Peter. Piper discovered he kept an extra in his bottom dresser draw. She regretted rummaging through his draws though she felt kind of awkward seeing his underwear.

By the sound of the other person's voice, it sounded female. Beth checked again, it was hard to tell but she eventually detected some curves.

"I mean, I'm _not_ going to let you 'fight crime' you're not ready!" Spiderman argued back.

Beth furiously took down notes.

"Excuse me," Beth said in the middle of their argument holding up on finger. "Who is that next to you?" she questioned.

"That's Pi-Spider-uh girl" Spiderman said noticing the woman who had heard them arguing.

"Spidergirl! Come on! Why not Spiderwoman? I'm only a year younger than you!"

Spidergirl took off in a huff.

Spiderman followed after her climbing up the nearest building Piper had escaped to.

Beth Hammond smiled. This looked like a good jump starter for her career.

"It doesn't matter what you say Spidey," Spidergirl said from atop the roof. "I am going to do this whether you like it or not".

Spiderman mimicked her. "Anything you can do, I can do better."

"I can do _anything_ better than you." Piper said narrowing her eyes under her mask.

Piper was already getting frustrated with her mask as it didn't allow her express all off her finest facial expressions that she used to convey emotion and it got hot and sweaty very fast.

And the spandex…well it was tight. _Very tight._ But it did allow for more movement. Piper still felt guilty she had broken into his apartment and stolen the suit.

She was more surprised the costume fit. Piper had only guessed she might be able to wear it, apparently it was a one-size-fits-all. Spandex is stretchy like that.

Spiderman sighed. He knew she wasn't going to give up. "Alright you-

Spiderman didn't get to finish.

"IIIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!" Spidergirl screeched as an unearthly noise escaped her lips.

"A spider!" she pointed to the thing crawling up her leg "kill it, kill it, kill it, kill it!" she said making her phrase seem like one big word.

Spiderman raised an eyebrow under his mask seeing as Piper had clung onto him. He was doing his best to hold back all his laughter.

"Isn't that sort of…ironic?"

"I don't care!" Piper whimpered pathetically. "Get it away and off of me!"

"I'm _not_ going to kill it." Peter stated picking up the poor creature from Piper's leg. He brought up the creature to show Spidergirl but she screamed again so he let it down near the side of the building.

"Better now?" Peter asked removed Piper's clutch from his arm.

Piper nodded slowly.

"Come on" Spiderman said. "We've got work to do. I've got to show you the ropes of being a super hero"

The spider that frightened Piper so much happily crawled down into the grass hoping to find a new home to spin a web and catch a few tasty insects. What the spider didn't know was that it was crossing from the grass onto a street with heavy traffic. So as the ordinary spider began to cross the road, a giant Mack Trunk came throttling down it.

The spider didn't think anything of this because it didn't have any idea what an eighteen-wheeler Mack Trunk was.

As the trunk got closer to the spider, the poor little spider, now aware of something giant going over it was fortunately positioned under the bottom of the truck were no wheels could smush it. Its poor little life had been saved for a second time tonight.

But it thought it was safe to soon because another giant trunk followed behind that one as the spider leaped up in the air to try and find safety. The Mack Trunk smushed it and sent it to live where all the smushed and dead spiders went.

The genetically altered spider was happy to be reunited with its first love in the spider's after life.

Piper wasn't exactly thrilled the next afternoon as she finished typing up an incredibly boring paper on 'Hamlet'. She proofread it and finalized her copy shoving it into her school folder.

"Hey, Piper! Take a look at this!" her dad called from the next room. He sounded like he was chuckling.

Piper decided to come see what her dad was laughing at.

The blonde-haired girl walked into the kitchen/living room with her socks making a soft padded noise on the spotless white carpet.

Her father handed the paper to Piper. Its headlines read:

**SPIDERGIRL? A SPIDER ROMANCE IN NEW YORK?**

Her eyes widened in horror, on the front page a blurry picture of her and Peter arguing last night stood out blatantly. She could not believe it. There was even an article.

Piper gagged reading the article. It really wasn't anything about her, just about Mister Hero himself, but it did say that at the 5 o'clock news there would be a special report on it. She looked at the clock 4:55.

Piper had about five minutes to drag her butt over to Peter's apartment.

"Dad, can I pick up something at the mini mart? I just finished a paper and I want to grab snack." The cinnamon-brown eyed girl said lying through her teeth.

"Sure" Her Dad nodded.

Piper felt really bad lying to her father…a lot.

Piper burst through Peter Parker's apartment door just in time.

"What?" Peter said confusedly though he knew Piper had a habit of randomly entering his apartment with out notice. He had gotten used to this.

Without a word Piper turned on the T.V. to channel 5.

"And now welcome to our special episode of 'Talk host live!' with Beth Hammond."

"That's the lady we saw last night!" Piper said pointing to the T.V. furiously.

Peter nodded. "Come on it can't be THAT bad. I deal with what the presses say about me all the time. They hate me, slander my name, call me and idiot when in fact- I graduated top of my class with the science award!"

"Just listen Peter." Piper said feeling as though she was sweet-talking to a brick wall.

"Thank you for having me tonight Dave! And do I have some news for you." Beth said smiling her calm smile making her audience stand on edge waiting for her to tell her report on the hottest topic in New York City's gossip.

"I saw 'Spidergirl' last night in New York while I was walking home. They didn't seem to notice me though," the same blurry picture that had appeared in the article in the paper now appeared on a small screen behind the reporters.

"What were they doing?" Dave the talk show host asked politely.

"They were fighting; they bickered just like an old married couple! I think they have a relationship going on."

Piper's face faulted and Peter laughed hysterically.

"In fact" Beth continued on. "I wouldn't be surprised if they were married-"

Piper had, had enough of that and turned off the T.V. "Guess I'm married to you now."

"Hey, you know how reporters are! They make up stuff like that all the time about celebrities. Don't get mad! You knew what you were getting yourself into and really dear, you're going to have to get used to it-I mean you're _married_ to me after all."

Piper chucked a couch pillow at Peter's face.

"That's _not_ funny."


	5. Friends with Friends

**The End 9- 'Friends with Friends'**

"But I think it's _hilarious_." Peter Parker commented to Piper, who had just gotten up from the couch.

The teenage girl rolled her eyes, "real funny" She commented. "Now as for your _real_ girlfriend, MJ" Piper continued. "Wouldn't she be disappointed? Are you going to see her again ever?"

Peter shrugged and sort of backed away from Piper, "Not right now I've got my hands full."

"No, you're not busy" She rolled her cinnamon brown eyes. "Why don't you go to the movies or something?"

"I don't know I don't think it's a good idea…"

"What about…one of those one-night dinner cruises?"

"On _my_ budget? Besides we're just friends"

"Peter, you _never_ spend money unless its necessary, but I'll finance it for you if you won't!" The blonde-haired girl said remembering her current savings. "Besides," she finished "Wouldn't MJ like it? _Friends_ can go with _friends _on dinner cruises just tell her you happened to have tickets…"

"Yeah…" Peter answered.

"So are you gonna?"

The blue-eyed man paused for a minute carefully thinking this over…a night with Mary Jane…the person he loved.

"Yeah, I will." Was his reply. It couldn't hurt after all could it? It might even be fun.

Piper smiled. "I knew you would."

"But first, ready for a round of web slinging?" Peter said digging into his hamper. They still had an ever present job to do.

"You betcha" Piper replied heading towards the door back to her apartment. "And by the way Peter," she said opening the door "Don't forget to _call_ MJ first." Piper winked at him and Peter nodded.

"So why are we out there again Beth?" Beth's new and personal camerawoman replied.

"Because we're looking for some live footage" was her answer. She had just gotten a call about a possible Spiderman/Spidergirl sighting.

Maxine pulled her red hair away from her face and checked her camera lens for about the fiftieth time making sure that it was in perfect working order. After all, she could allow no harm to come to her favorite and most precious camera.

Beth Hammond's career was looking bright, after about five talk show invites or so her news studio gave her a very nice raise in pay and they offered more if Beth could dig up some more on this girl. Beth smiled smugly thinking about her cute new wardrobe and how the people at the station would be kissing up to her.

"I don't understand, why can't we do a story on doughnuts?" Maxine asked as they passed a Krispy Kreme. "I mean, how do they get the holes in the doughnuts? Do they use lasers or something?" Max had always wondered this "wouldn't the public want to know about that instead of a super hero that doesn't even exist?"

"Max, you're an idiot and I'm not paying you for suggestions." Beth said focusing her attention on where they were driving.

"Hey, I'm just looking out for your general public." Max/Maxine said in an informative way.

"And for your information Spidergirl is very real." Beth answered matter-o-factly.

"Yeah Rig-…"

Max looked out the window just to see two figures swing across the nearest building.

"Holy Shiznit!" were the first words that came out of her mouth. Beth swerved the car they were in as they stopped abruptly and parked to the side of the road. They both hurried out of the car and Maxine readied her camera.

They were just in time to see the duet of super heroes bring two little kids to safety. The kids had been playing on their old apartment building's fire escape until its rusty hinges began to collapse

Fortunately nobody was hurt.

"Are you getting this Max?" Beth said shouting over the other reporters as Spiderman and Spidergirl handed the children over to a thankful mother; "they always play out there…I had no idea it was so old…"

"Yeah, I am." The woman said from behind her camera.

A loud masculine voice shouted from crowd as everyone started asking questions at once. A reporter from a local station was filming from a giant news camera, no doubt showing live footage of the current scene.

An idea occurred to Max at that moment, vying for the super hero's attention.

"Hey! You guys! Kiss up for the camera!" Max said shouting and holding up her prized video camera.

A hot blush passed through Piper's face as she let the little girl she was holding down. At first she was just shell shocked from all the attention but now she was angry. In her wrath she flung her wrist out and a web stuck onto Maxine's precious camera and in a huff climbed the building and bounded away.

"Sorry," Spiderman said "She's not much into PDA." And he too took off.

"PDA?" a random news reporter asked.

"Public display of affection" someone answered.

"Ohhhh."

A few days later Piper was relaxing after a short evening of crime fighting, in a nice hot bubble bath that was soaking into her skin. It was pleasant and relaxing and it helped her ward away thoughts of being stalked by news reporters. The blonde-haired teenager munched on a chocolate bar that she had coveted in the fridge for stressful emergencies. She enjoyed the rich flavor melting in her mouth as she took another delicious bite of chocolate. She also had brought in a CD player to listen to some of her favorite music.

Piper's chocolate bliss however was ruined by thought of Beth Hammond, the reporter that was going to make her super hero life miserable. Piper inhaled the scent of her rose bubble bath (she bought it at bath and body work's one stressful day) and how comfortable the bath cushion behind her back was.

The angry thoughts soon left her mind as another realization occurred to her. Piper began scrubbing herself with a purple mesh shower poof to remove the day's dirt and grime from her skin.

"_I just helped the person I like most go on a date with the person I **hate** most"_ the teenager let that statement sink in. "_And now I'm hoping they're having a good time."_

Piper sunk deeper into her bubbled bath, riding herself of the soap she'd lathered on herself.

A groan escaped her lips and she tried let herself relax again trying harder to pay more attention the music she was listening to rather than thoughts about Peter's date.

_Gonna stand my ground, won't be turned around  
And I'll keep this world from draggin' me down  
Gonna stand my ground and I won't back down_

Hey baby, there ain't no easy way out  
Hey I will stand my ground  
And I won't back down.

Piper took off the headphones before the song could go to the chorus, at the moment she didn't want to hear a song that like, but still…

"_No Peter, I won't back down…not just yet…"_

If there was one thing Peter Parker had been before, it was nervous around girls, especially a girl named Mary Jane. Piper was a girl but her personality was not like Mary Jane's. Piper was very tom boyish; Mary Jane was exactly the opposite. In fact this was Mary Jane, the girl he'd liked since the first grade. The girl he never wanted to see hurt.

Peter Parker seemed into taking risks these days "_Because for once night,"_ he decided "_I'm going to be like any other guy being out with a girl"_

It had taken him so long to realize that he didn't have to shy away anymore, how many criminally insane people out to get him, are there after all? At least at that moment it seemed logical to him.

Peter figured the odds were in his favor. So as he fiddled around with his tux, he waited for MJ to answer the door. He imagined the sound of her voice, her smiling eyes and the way her voice sounded and that no words could describe how she felt about him, and Peter had rejected this.

Maybe if he had led a different life style and didn't feel he had to be so responsible, then at the graveyard he would have said how much he loved her. But he didn't and there was no use changing that. He hoped somewhere down in his heart that Mary Jane knew he wasn't just a friend. Peter was ready to take on the future, no matter what happened, no matter where he would end up with Mary Jane and that the expression "happily ever after" would somehow find him. He decided he was going to a brave new person and a dashing prince charming, even though it was out of character for him.

And then the door opened.

And Peter Parker forgot everything he said to himself about what he was going to do.

"_And I'm just a science club geek…and I'm happy to be that, if I'm standing next to Mary Jane"_

MJ was all together stunning. Beautiful wasn't enough to describe her exact radiance at that moment. She was wearing a navy blue evening gown that would put any man on their knees. Even the fabric seemed to match and compliment her regal blue eyes. The dress did not have a low cut neck, but it wasn't high either. It wrapped around tightly every single inch of her curves and portrayed her figure exquisitely and regally.

"You look…_great_" Peter said lost for words and was flustered in a way that only he could be.

MJ smiled a smile that could have sent every man in five-mile radius to her easily. Needless to say Peter Parker's knees were like jell-o.

"Thanks, for taking me out I really appreciate it" MJ said honestly. She always looked forward to the time she spent with Peter.

"If you don't mind, I'd like to take you as my date- that is of course if you want to" Peter Parker said slightly less nervous than he originally thought he would.

"I'd like that, a lot." The redhead said knowing tonight would be very special. After all there wasn't a person in the world Mary Jane cared for more than Peter Parker. She loved him for his personality, how he always encouraged her and was always there every single time and he never asked anything in return from her.

Mary Jane decided it was time to give back, and show him just how much he meant to her. After all he was a close friend. He always seemed to be around when she was hurt or in trouble.

And they left for a night of dinner, dancing and a good time, but more importantly to know that sometimes you fail to notice the one you really love, or someone that really cares about you, no matter who they are.

"Want to dance with me Peter? Please?" Mary Jane begged.

"Uh…Mary Jane…I _can't_ dance"

"That's what everyone says!" and she asked once again.

"If you really want to…" Peter answered and then laughed "All right, just don't blame me if I step on your toes."

Mary Jane rolled her blue eyes, "I'm sure you're better than _that._"

About a minute into the song MJ's toes had not been squashed but that didn't mean Peter Parker wasn't nervous because was still trying his hardest to get feet to do the right dance steps.

"Okay," Mary Jane laughed "You're not so bad at this."

"Only because you're leading." He joked around.

They both laughed.

Peter stopped dancing for a moment. Every fiber of his being told him at this exact moment would be a great time to kiss her.

MJ also stopped dancing. She stood there with her arms around Peter wondering why he had stopped.

"Thank you for going with me tonight MJ" he said breathlessly.

"Thank you for inviting me" Mary Jane graciously replied "I wouldn't have wanted to go with anybody else.

Peter Parker for the first time felt love, love that was returned. Even if it hadn't been said out loud.

"The greatesttttt thing, you'll eeeeeeever learn is just to loveeeeee and be loveddddddd in return!" Piper sang along rather loudly and badly to her Moulin Rouge soundtrack.

She wasn't having a good night. After she got out of the bath she put on her favorite pair of pajamas; her fuzzy sheep pajamas. The ones she was wearing when she kissed Peter. Piper didn't think anything off it until she had lain down in her bed and was perfectly comfortable.

"No wonder these were at the bottom of my drawer…" She murmured to herself. Eventually Piper fell asleep with the thoughts of the up coming senior prom, but that did not bother her because she wasn't going to go. School was rough for Piper with her new schedule. She had to function off little sleep and sometimes painful bruises. She tried not to think about it; it wasn't really worth thinking about or stressing out over.

That night Piper had a dream, well she didn't know that at the time because it was lucid to her.

"What the hell?" Piper questioned to herself as she was in her fuzzy sheep pajamas on top of the roof top garden. For a split second she saw Peter standing next to a cherry tree in full blossom. The wind blew and pink petals fluttered through the air. One floated right past her cheek. She felt its tiny flutter and continued to look at Peter she realized the fluttering sensation had not stopped; just seeing him gave her butterflies in her stomach.

The "dream" Peter extended his hand out and gestured for Piper to come towards him. Piper smiled and felt a warmth spread through her like none other she had felt before. She began to run towards him. She stopped abruptly when she heard a scream of "help me!" come from exactly behind her.

It was Mary Jane and she was hanging from the side of the building clinging to the edge for dear life. The ground beneath Piper began to shake and she knew the spot she was standing on would collapse. She could run ahead to Peter with his arms stretched out, or go back and save Mary Jane, she didn't know if she could do both however; once the ground was gone from underneath her she would not be able to get back.

She immediately began to continue running forward. All the while she heard Mary Jane's screams. She felt her heart tearing inside her to go back but still she kept moving forward.

And when she heard Mary Jane's last scream while she was in Peter's arms she almost cried, but remembered Peter was with her so it would be okay.

But it wasn't, because the ground underneath her opened up and left her hanging on the edge. She immediately tried to climb back up but her hands would not stick like they used to and her web refused to work as well.

"Peter!" she cried out.

She was unable to use any of her powers and was just as helpless as Mary Jane.

Peter stood there frozen and looking forward.

"Help me!"

He still didn't move.

"No! Please!" She sobbed and let tears run down her cheeks.

As her tired hand released its grip on the side of the ledge she tried to get another grip to save herself from falling but only took a handful of grass with her as she fell into a black abyss.

"No!"

Piper sat up in her bed sweating and crying and she threw off her covers.

"_What a horrible dream!"_

She wiped her forehead nervously as the sweat dripped off her body. The dream had felt so real.

"_Why did I choose that?"_

Piper was more concerned about her dream than falling back asleep. Even though it was just a dream, she couldn't help but feel guilty that she would have made that choice in real life. Piper pushed it into the back of her mind. That would never happen. She wouldn't be forced to choose.

**The End 10- Passing out off the side of a building**

_The End_

It was covered with smoke and hot, most burning buildings were like that though.

"Is there anyone still in there?" Piper/Spidergirl called out hoping that she and Peter had gotten most of the people out already.

"I'm still here!" a voice called out.

"Where? I can't see you!" Spidergirl called back. It was REALLY hot and Piper had perspiration stains on her/Peter's "borrowed" suit, not to mention the fact that sides in the building were hurtling out in random exploding intervals that sent pieces of chewed up and burnt wood throttling to the ground below.

Spidergirl heard coughing in a room over to the right; quickly she avoided flames and with one mighty whack from her leg destroyed the door blocking entrance to the room. It sent splitters flying into the flickering torrid flames near by.

Sitting in the room clutching her personal palm pilot (with the raise, the pen and paper had been done way with) Beth Hammond was obviously waiting for someone to come save her.

"You risked your life to get a story?" Spidergirl said aloud in disbelief.

"Not…really," Beth Hammond said getting up "could you please help me out before the place collapses?"

"Why should I? You wrote all those horrible and untrue things about me! Wouldn't the media world be better with out you?" this really wasn't the time and place to argue about ethics; Piper knew this but she disliked Beth Hammond so much that even a burning building could not distract her.

"I was only reporting the, truth- you do like Spiderman right?" Beth said preparing to taking down notes

"No! I don't!" Piper said angrily

"Oohhh I see! You're-

"No! I'm not! That's slander! Just like that time you said Spiderman and I had a kid that lived in Kentucky!"

"Sorry, you just gave me lack of facts, so it was only logical to conclude such a theory." Beth reasoned in a huff.

"I'm _leaving_." Spidergirl said indignantly turning around.

"Wait, please? I'm innocent! Remember!"

"Innocent? Hardly! You-

Piper noticed a burning beam about to fall on Beth.

"Oh _damn it_." Spidergirl said as she rushed off to save Beth. She couldn't avoid her conscience.

"My hero's conscience…" she mumbled under her breath.

Spidergirl, however had reacted just a little too late and took a heavy blow to her back. She let out a cry of pain but couldn't not finish what she had started. She had to save Beth. She pulled Beth out of the building by leaping from an exploded window and web slinging to the ground.

Spidergirl cringed as she flicked out her wrist to safely swing to the ground.

Spiderman a.k.a. Peter Parker witnessed Piper's blow to the back and it currently looked extraordinarily painful because of the bruises, cuts and blood dripping down her now bare back. Not to mention the sickening crunch the flaming timber had made when it came in contact with Piper's spine.

Piper set Beth down, it didn't matter that Beth was at least inches six taller than she was; Piper was still able to carry her.

"I hope…you're grateful." Spidergirl sputtered suddenly feeling sort of weak in her legs.

She made an effort to walk a few feet and climbed weakly up a near by building watching the fire fighters calm the flames, coaxing them down with gallons of white gushing water that cascaded up to the building. The pain she neglected to feel while saving Beth began exploding through her body.

"You okay?" Spiderman asked suddenly appearing next Spidergirl.

"Oh…I'm fine" _I'm only in an excruciating amount of pain_

She muttered out refusing to admit she was weak in the knees. Piper hauled herself up, only to collapse again and tried to get up once more. _Damnit!_

Peter offered her a hand. He wasn't sure just how hurt she was.

"Sure, you're _fine_"

"**Shut up**" Piper spat back at him but unwillingly took his hand.

She felt a little dizzy, but tried not to let it show.

"Let's… get going." she finished and took a few steps towards the edge of the building.

Peter shrugged and followed her. She seemed to be her usual self; he didn't think she was seriously injured. After his super hero powers did allow his body to endure a lot more than it was used to.

Spidergirl put her hand out just like she had done what seemed like a million times before, and looked ahead, but her eyes rolled back in her head under her mask as she fell straight off the building.

Spiderman, rushed to catch her, as the crowd below made a loud cheering noise as the masked spandex clad man who saved Spidergirl from falling.

When Piper woke up, her back was infinitely sore and in pair of boxers and a huge t-shirt.

The teenage-girl groaned a bit, this was not how she wanted to spend her weekend. She also realized she was in an unfamiliar bed and her father was sitting in the corner of the room.

Piper rubbed her eyes wondering what exactly her father knew; after all she assumed she was in Peter Parker's bed. She glanced around for the time; it was only about a half hour from when she passed out she assumed. Peter must have brought her to his apartment to change before he would take her to a hospital. She wondered why he called her father? And what exactly he had told him.

Just then Mary Jane walked in holding a tray with a chocolate chip muffin and a hot cup of tea.

Her father started to rouse, at the sound of noise and smell of food.

"Huh?" Piper questioned.

"Here, hungry?" MJ asked smiling.

"Yeah" Piper said accepting the food. She sat up a little and winced. Piper also noticed the bandages around her side.

"I take it that left a mark?" she said aloud as her cinnamon eyes glanced at the slightly reddish stains on the white wrappings.

"Hell yes, it did." Ed said now awake.

"How did I-

At this time Peter walked in and greeted the bunch in the room.

"You were lucky" Peter Parker started "Spiderman got you out of their just in time, he brought you to an ambulance and they were able to patch up the cuts on your back. I brought you back here after and called your Dad." Peter explained.

Piper tried to keep a straight face, because she knew she passed out after taking a beating to the back. Peter was not good at lying.

"And it's a good thing they found you and this man was nice enough to take care of you." her father commented. Obviously he didn't remember Peter as the photographer.

The blonde-haired teen started to munch on her muffin. It was quite good, and she assumed it came from the café where Mary Jane spent most of her working days.

"Hey, Dad can you get me a spare change of clothes?" she asked noticing her outfit and the fact she wanted to talk with Peter alone.

"Sure, but are you all right?" he questioned.

"Yeah, I'm fine."

Peter rolled his eyes secretly "_Last time you said that you passed out and fell off a building"_

Ed got up assuring Piper he would be back in about ten minutes at the most. Piper nodded and smiled faintly.

Now the only problem was that MJ was in the room.

"Can I see how bad it is?" Piper asked pointing to her bandages, hoping Mary Jane would have a weak stomach.

Piper started undoing the bandages and looked at her swollen back.

"_Yup, I banged it up good"_

Mary Jane did not seem to want to leave the room though, in fact her eyes widened and she ran out of the room and rushed back in a second later coming in with a paper.

"What?" Peter asked curiously.

It was a picture showing Spiderman holding an unconscious Spidergirl (well actually you could only see Piper's bare and bloody back) and it looked exactly like Piper's.

The facts occurred to Piper.

"_Oh shit"_ she thought.

"I know who you are" Mary Jane said with her mouth half open looking at Piper.

"Really?" Piper said nervously "I haven't even figured that out yet"

"_Oh shit. Oh shit. Oh shit. What if she figures out Peter…" _she silently prayed this wasn't what she thought.

"Don't try and deny it, you're Spidergirl." Mary Jane paused for a moment "Oh my god those tabloids!"

"Are _NOT_ true!" Piper spoke out.

Mary Jane signed in relief. "So you are- that explains a lot…Do you know who Spiderman is then?"

Piper's face faulted she shook her head "I don't he's _really secret_ about his identity." She very blatantly lied.

Peter breathed a sigh of relief (while pretending to be shocked about Piper).

Mary Jane seemed satisfied with her answer and didn't press her any further. Peter breathed a sigh of relief. His secret was still safe. Piper recovered her wounds and unhappily tried to lie back down. She couldn't believe she had given her secret away. She wondered if Mary Jane would go all gushy and mushy on her.

"Could you…please not tell anyone?" Piper pleaded, "Especially not my Dad?"

Mary Jane looked hesitant for a moment but Peter spoke up quickly, "Of course, we'll keep it just between us three, right."

Mary Jane nodded. She seemed kind of misty eyed, _I'm sure that I can get Piper to tell me who Spiderman really is…_

"Thank you." Piper said truly grateful. She just couldn't believe that was all it took for her secret to get out.

Mary Jane wasn't the _only_ one about to get mushy, Maxine; Beth's camerawoman was currently in a camera repair shop.

"What do you _mean_ you can't fix this! Is that a camera repair shop or not!" Max said arguing for the sake of her precious and beloved camera that might be doomed to remain sticky for all eternity.

"I think I can help Miss" a manly voice said.

Maxine turned around to see the hunkiest redheaded guy she had ever met.

"Oh yes you can" Max grinned. It was good Max didn't know the web would be dissolved by tomorrow; otherwise she wouldn't have had the chance to flirt.


	6. Unrequited Love and Villainy

**Then End 11- Clueless**

Everything was set. All she had to do was walk away and watch hundreds of people's lives change in a single instant. It was satisfying to hear the explosion behind her as the heat coursed through the air and clouds of fiery smoke and ash drifted towards the scorched ground. The worst part was the smell of burning flesh, that part bothered Hilary the most. The explosion however, she decided was worth it.

She shrugged it off though; her mind was idly carefree despite the fact that she had just blown a building in sunny California to bits. In fact, she even smiled thinking about how much she enjoyed the feel of panic in the air and the fear of pain in people's hearts.

Perhaps she wasn't in her right mind, criminally insane, one might say. But to Hilary Dunn it was the most exciting and intoxicating feeling in the world.

"Next target… I think I'll go more East Coast," she said to herself, pulling out a pair of black sunglasses and proceeding to put them on her face.

"I was starting to get _bored_."

The man behind Maxine that offered his help was most definitely attractive, with a strong build and the most gorgeous green eyes Max had _ever_ saw. Instead of arguing with the man behind the counter any more she turned around to face the mysterious hunk. Max began to explain her problem to him.

"He says there's nothing wrong with this and that I can't get it cleaned," she said, leaning against the sales desk and holding her camera in one hand.

"I know a place down the street that will clean it for half the price of this place," he supplied helpfully.

Max smiled back, "Finally someone who understands me!" she said gratefully in relief.

"You need a ride?" he asked in true Good Samaritan spirit.

"Yeah, I do. My name's Maxine, or Max for short."

The man reached for his car keys. "I'm Alex"

"Cool," Max said as they headed out the door.

"This can absolutely not be true!" Beth hollered in frustration. The rumor was that her faithful camerawoman Max had been seen with her rival Channel 7's cameraman. Channel 5 did not need this sort of publicity. "Talk about your modern day Romeo and Juliet," she mumbled.

And _besides_, the cameraman worked for Brian Redford, head of Channel 7 and the person Beth happened to hate most in the world. She blamed him for just about every missed opportunity in her life, and for the fact Channel 7 was currently getting higher ratings than them.

Beth scowled; this was not at all her day.

"Alex, is that _his_ name?" she questioned to the co-worker nearest her.

"You mean that guy from Channel 7?"

"Yes, _him_" Beth answered, still not able to understand if Max liked him or was just spying on him. She gave another glance at her co-worker.

"You know, Max and I, we're like this." Beth said, crossing her two fingers together.

The man rolled his eyes. "Cry a river, build a bridge and get over it."

As soon as he turned around and left, Beth gave him the finger. "That idiot…" she muttered to herself.

Piper found herself sitting at a bench outside her apartment later the next day. She was studying for an upcoming exam that she had no interest in taking, but had to anyway for the sake of her GPA.

'_It's almost over,' _she reminded herself.

"Hey, come on, give that back!" Piper heard a voice nearby. She knew that voice all too well. He was the freshman, who had a locker next to hers that she had to help open every morning, when even the mightiest of janitors couldn't do it. So when Piper missed school he couldn't get into his locker. The teenage girl felt really bad.

Right now his math book was being kicked around on the grass by two taller upperclassmen.

Piper had had enough of that.

"Knock it off you jerks," she said, standing up.

"Oh yeah?" one of them responded, casually picking up the grassy math book. "What're you gonna do about it?"

It took a split second for Piper to approach the kid holding the textbook and rip it out of his hands. Then, in a fit of rage she whacked the two goons over the head with the book before handing it back to the poor boy. They were so stunned at her act that the two students took off in a huff after seeing Piper's livid face.

"They have no lives," she decided aloud. "They'll be losers when they grow up."

"Thanks…" the 'freshman' mumbled almost inaudibly, he looked up at Piper "For always helping me."

"Hey you deserve it." Piper smiled kindly, the boy smiled as well.

"I'll see you tomorrow then," he replied and headed off towards the school's bus stop.

"That was nice of you, Piper." Peter Parker stepped up to the blonde teenager.

"Where did you come from?" she asked, turning quickly.

"Just around, I picked up your habit of popping up randomly."

"Ha, ha" Piper rolled her eyes.

"How's your back?" Peter asked, watching Piper sit back down on the bench and pick up a heavy looking book.

"Not too bad, it's healing pretty well. Can't say it won't leave one hell of a mark," Piper returned, organizing her notes from an overstuffed binder and flipping through a couple of pages in her book.

In her balancing act of holding up a huge pile of papers, pens and one large textbook, Piper ultimately dropped her entire binder on the ground and had to rush to pick up her valuable work.

And Peter of course, being the good person that he was, offered to help. Rather, he automatically bent down to help Piper.

One paper in particular caught his eye.

"Senior Prom! Buy Tickets Now!" he read aloud and glanced at the other information on the sheet.

"Hey!" Piper said slightly offended as he read it out. "You can keep it," she muttered. "I'm not going."

"I didn't go to mine either, if that makes you feel better," Peter supplied helpfully.

"Thanks, Peter, that just comforts me oh-so-much" Piper hauled her books up refusing to look Peter in the eyes.

"Where are you going?" he questioned.

"Away from you!"

"What did I do?" he asked, following the teenage girl. Piper didn't answer Peter because she walked into the apartment lobby and slammed the door right in front of him.

Peter Parker was ultimately confused. _Girls!_

"I think she was mad, but I wasn't sure, however when she slammed the door in my face that was a dead give away. I didn't even do anything!" Peter explained it to Mary Jane while picking up his laundry to take to the Laundromat. Usually on the weekends Peter Parker was stuck at home in his apartment cleaning up the mess he always seemed to make and never had to time to pick up during the week.

Mary Jane rolled her eyes. She knew it; Piper had a crush on Peter Parker and yet did not show any signs of her affections. Why she didn't, Mary Jane didn't know but she had an itching feeling in the back of her mind.

"Peter, did you come up with the idea for that dinner cruise?" she wondered aloud.

"No, Piper suggested it," Peter answered and blinked. He wondered what MJ was getting at.

This made much more sense to Mary Jane. Piper had obviously found out that Peter liked MJ and had only tried to help, which was very kind of her.

'_In fact,' _MJ mentally began, '_I bet that Piper encouraged Peter to show his true feelings'_

MJ found Piper's helpfulness as a wonderfully heroic notion, to help the person she liked try to get together with another girl.

"Peter?" Mary Jane questioned.

"Hm?" He looked up from his pile of laundry.

"Did you go to your prom?"

"No, I didn't. Why do you ask?"

"Piper's doesn't seem exactly like the Miss Popularity type in her new school; I think she should have at least one fond memory of it. After all, didn't you regret not going to your prom?" MJ subtly hinted.

"No, not at all, in fact I helped my uncle install a new TV that night" he stated plainly.

Mary Jane made an indescribable face. "Well, wouldn't you be sad if you had left high school with no good memories?"

"I'm not sad now, am I?" Peter answered, _still_ not getting what Mary Jane was hinting at.

Mary Jane decided that called for desperate measures.

"I," she said, pointing her thumb at herself. "Want." She paused so Peter could fully take in the meaning of her words. "You." She pointed at Peter. "To." MJ held up two fingers. "Take." The redhead made a gesture that looked like she was pulling at the air. "Piper." She pretended to play an invisible pipe. "To." She held up two fingers again. "The." The girl paused again for good measure. "Prom." And she spun around gracefully as if she were in a prom dress.

"Why?" Peter asked confused.

Mary Jane could have crashed to the floor at that comment. Or beat Peter over the head with a laundry basket.

"Do you want her to remember high school as the time she wore spandex and webbed around the streets to stop crime? Or would you let her _at least _have one normal memory of a social life!" she explained, exasperated.

"Social life? Well...uh…how?" Peter asked somewhat stupidly, as he caught on to why Mary Jane had to use caveman language to get to him to understand. He felt rather embarrassed.

MJ was still feeling a little creative.

She took two socks from Peter's hamper and put one on each of her hands. "Hi!" she said holding up her left hand "I'm Piper!" and using a much deeper voice for her right-hand sock puppet she said, "I'm Peter Parker"

"My voice isn't _that_ deep," Peter commented, slightly offended.

"Oh, I'm _sorry_." Mary Jane replied in her normal voice. "How's this? HI! I'M PETER PARKER," she said in a tone that rivaled that of a chipmunk on helium.

"I think I like the other one better." Peter scratched at his head.

"Then please don't complain." Mary Jane said smiling and continued on. "Oh, hi, Peter!" the Piper sock puppet said as MJ imitated Piper's voice surprisingly well.

"Hello, Piper!" Her right hand that was currently Peter Parker answered the sock puppet Piper.

"Say, do you want to go to your prom with me?" it continued. "I would love to!" the Piper sock puppet answered.

"And viola! See, Piper is happy and it is very easy to do," she finished, taking off Peter's socks. "You should buy the prom tickets and give them to her!"

Peter nodded, resisting the urge to laugh at Mary Jane's antics.

"So," the girl continued. "What are you going to do now?"

"I'm going to do my laundry, I told you"

"_After_ that," MJ said grinding her teeth slightly.

"I'm going to _fold_ my laundry."

Mary Jane made a noise of frustration. He was doing that on purpose now. "Did you not just understand what I just told you!"

"Oh, I knew. I just wanted to see your face, you're cute when you're angry." he grinned showing his sense of humor. Mary Jane was taken aback, was that Peter…_flirting?_

"Don't you ever, Peter Parker, make me resort to sock puppets _AGAIN_! Your socks smell terrible!"

Peter picked up one of the socks Mary Jane just used. "Hiya! I'm like Mary Jane! Like yeah!" he said in a surprisingly girly voice.

"No, Peter. No" Mary Jane said shaking her head. "If I was a sock, I would not be that dirty and smelly."

Peter took off the sock and picked up his hamper. "I have to get going now."

"Bye Tiger."

**The End 12- Doors? Why Would Anyone Use Those?**

Alex thought he could earn some major brownie points for what he was about to do. It was ingenious and perfect, enough to win over _any_ girl. Especially Max.

"But soft, what light! Through wonder window breaks!" he shouted up and hurled a can up at the redheaded camerawoman's window.

Perhaps he had thrown the can a little too hard, as a small hole now resided in the window.

"What the hell!" Max said seeing a can fly through her bedroom window; without thinking she reached for the nearest blunt object, which happened to be a wooden Red Socks commemorative bat.

Cautiously she looked out the window, "Alex?" she questioned "What are you DOING?" currently the man was climbing up the ravine of the apartment buildings and up to Max's broken window.

Raising an eyebrow she helped him up into her apartment room, and waited for him to catch his breath.

"Couldn't you have used the door?" Maxine asked him as though he were crazy

Alex let out a small groan "I was trying to be…" he stuttered off abashedly,

"Romantic…"

"Ohhhh!" Maxine said a whole new light flooding her eyes "Like, Romeo and Juliet you mean? I _so_ remember that movie!"

Alex resisted the urge to smack his forehead. "I can see Shakespeare rolling over in his grave."

"I dislike pre cal, I dislike pre cal, I IMMENSLY dislike pre cal!" Piper chanted over her pre calculus homework.

"Really?" a voice said from outside her window "I actually like it" Piper nearly had a heart attack. She would have too, if she didn't know that the voice belonged to Peter Parker.

"What…" she started to give him an inquisitive look as she opened the window letting a breath of the cool night air into her room. The curtains swayed slightly as Peter made his graceful landing in, quickly and ran his fingers through his plain brown hair making sure none of it was sticking up to wildly.

"You're losing the battle there, Pete." Piper said playfully watching Peter trying to fix his hair "You know there's this wonderful invention called gel, really it works too."

"I could do with out the sarcasm." Peter said removing his hand from his head. "And instead of a damsel in distress I get a comedian"

"Haha, very funny" The short blonde haired girl commented rolling her eyes. "Now what do you want so bad that you had to come into my room at-.." she paused expecting the digital clock to have an insanely late time of night on it but instead it read 8:16. "A time I thought was later but wasn't"

"It's actually about your prom." He told her truthfully

"You mean hell with streamers?" Piper said in a tone that expressed her exact opinion of the prom.

Peter winced briefly, this might be harder than MJ told him it would be, "Yeah, I was going to be there taking pictures of it for the paper and I wanted to know if you…if you were going." he lied quickly. Maybe she really didn't want to go after all.

"Well, no. I wasn't planning on it at least." She said mildly interested that Peter Parker was going to HER prom.

"Oh come on, I won't have anything to do there, and you'll just be at home not doing much." He argued.

"I suppose you're right…why don't you just go with me in the first place" Piper said expressing her idea "Then you can wear a tux, how cute!" she smiled rather girlishly.

Peter thought about blushing but quickly decided against it. "So you're going?"

Piper decided to indirectly answer this, quickly she pointed to a banner that had been hung up across two poles near the apartment building that was clearly visible from her window.

The banner had a picture on it of a cartoon like pig with wings saying "Flying Pigs' Deli and Sandwich Shoppe, tastes heavenly!"

"When pig's fly Peter, when pig's fly" was Piper's only answer.

Peter looked confused for a moment "So, that's a yes?"

The brown-eyed girl gave him a small smile "I don't know. Why don't you ask me again tomorrow? How about at my school? Good? I'll meet you at 3:30! Outside at the bench!" Piper grinned evilly.

Peter's face faulted.

Piper hummed to herself at her locker that morning, she was going to the prom with a pretty male, a very pretty genetically enhanced superhero male.

"_Agggg I have to stop that! My brain is meting!"_

Unconsciously she reached over to help the poor 'freshman' open his locker once more. He gave her his always-grateful smile

"_Besides,"_ She thought "_he's got MJ anyway he's just being nice…urgg MJ there's a name to ruin anyone's day"_

"Um Piper?" the 'freshman' asked her.

"Hm?" she asked snapping out of her day dream.

"My name is Kris; I don't think I ever got to tell you that before. I'm also a senior" he told her, she had been helping him out for awhile now, he had wanted to talk to her...

Piper stopped for a moment. She had made the same mistake that Mary Jane made on her. "Oh," she paused a moment "Well…umm…it's nice to meet you? Hahh, not that I don't see you everyday." She never really even _looked_ at him. He was a bit taller than her, but she was kind of short, he had blonde hair and regular blue eyes.

He was a typical high school student. "So," she continued "Are you going to the senior prom?" the topic came to her in a sudden thought as a good idea for conversation. She felt kinda bad about not ever talking to him before. "Because I am!" she grinned. Just as she said so the first bell went off, "I'll see you tomorrow Kris! Bye!" and she dashed off.

Piper heard the second bell ring and grabbed a few books from her own locker as she muttered under her breath "Ye, noise? Then I'll be brief. O, happy dagger…this is thy sheath." She looked over at her back pack "There rust, and let me die…I have pre cal first period and I didn't finish my homework…damn you Peter Parker"

Kris stared as she dashed off. He began to talk out loud to himself.

"Because you know I am too, and I bought these two tickets. I was wondering if you would go with me…"

He held the two pink tickets in his hand and looked down at them. Maybe he would get another chance later. Maybe if he jammed his locker again, maybe she would talk to him again….

"I'm proud of you Peter." Mary Jane smiled as he told her of what he did. "She'll really enjoy it."

"Heh…" Peter neglected to add he had to ask her again today, but he had other things on his mind. "On the other hand, I'm getting slightly worried, all over the country they're been a few recent bombings" he told her creasing his eyebrows "I'm worried it's a serial bombing."

"How could it be?" Mary Jane asked remembering what she had watched from the news last night "All the media said they've been complete accidents and there was no evidence that someone could have done something like that," she paused "You're just worrying too much."

"I hope so, for all our sakes…I just have a bad feeling about this."

At 3:30 Peter Parker was standing next to the promised bench waiting for Piper. He wondered what she was up to. Whatever it was Peter was sure he was prepared to handle it, he'd dealt with a lot of bad things, criminals and what not; after all what could a teenage girl possibly do?

However, as _prepared_ as Peter was, he was _not ready_ for what he saw. He saw Piper coming toward him, what he didn't expect was a hoard of her fellow classmates behind her. Not even a small amount, maybe even _fifty_ of them! Peter gulped. She had probably gathered them by spreading the news that he was going to ask her to the prom outside after school. Most of the people in attendance were female who probably wanted to see a gushy display of affection.

"So Peter," Piper said grinning from ear to ear "What did you have to ask me?"

The crowd of people around her grinned, apparently she was going to make a spectacle of this.

"I want to know…would you…" he trailed off, _goddamn this!_ Why was he so _nervous_?

"What was that you said Peter?" she asked smiling sweetly. Peter resisted the urge to swear in front of everybody.

He decided to be daringly dramatic; _I'll show her…_ he got down on his knee in front of her, and held up two of the paper pink prom tickets. "I wanted to ask, if you _Piper Checker_, in all of your beauty and charm, would accompany my humble self to your senior prom?"

He didn't believe it, he made her _blush!_ She blushed really hard. He nearly laughed out loud.

"Of course!" she said once she regained her composure, "I would love to!"

Peter got up from off his knee, the crowd of high school student around them cheered happily, and Piper blushed again once more. _You're really surprising Peter Parker._

Not far away from the scene, Kris stood as he saw what happened. He knew Piper often went out to that bench to do homework, but when he had got there and saw what happened…He held the pink tickets tightly in his hand and crumpled them.

"_I should have known…a girl like that would never give a second look at me…"_


	7. I Tried So Hard and Got So Far

**The End 13- I Tried So Hard and Got So Far**

_I don't feel like myself…_

As much as she hated to admit it, Piper Checker former anti prom campaigner was excited, not to mention ready for possibly what may be the highlight of her high school year. She was far too excited about the dress she bought. She had _never_ been excited about wearing a dress before.

Flashback 

Piper had been walking around the mall for hours looking for a prom dress. She felt like she had tried on _hundreds_ at different department stores but none of them matched up to what she wanted. In her opinion there were far too many ugly ones. Some too short, some too clingy, some would have looked better in a different color, some too poofy, she couldn't find one that seemed 'just right'.

Piper didn't have a lot of experience wearing dresses; she hardly ever wore them even when she was little. She also absolutely refused to wear tights, or panty hose or whatever they were; it was too uncomfortable and made her skin crawl. Plus most of the dresses required her to wear a strapless bra, something that she was also not familiar with. When she first looked a one she wondered if a band of fabric around her chest would be more comfortable. It wasn't like she had _that_ much anyway.

The blonde-haired girl walked out of the lingerie store empty handed and disheartened. She shouldn't have waited this long to get a dress and 'accessories'

There were two department stores left that she could check in but she felt rather hopeless. Piper entered the next one; it was rather large and it took her a few moment to find the part were the dresses were displayed. She browsed somewhat uninterestedly through the sea of sequined gowns. She saw an older woman helping a younger girl pick out a dress that flattered the girl's tiny figure. She felt a tinge of jealousy, for a moment she wished her mom was there to help her pick out something girly!

Her combat boots heels click on the title floor, and she stopped near a mirror attached to the wall. Faded jeans, a blue sweatshirt, black combat boots- she felt inadequate. _Especially compared to Mary Jane_

"Piper?" a voice called?

"Huh?" she snapped out of her introspection.

"Hi! It's me, Kris! Are you shopping?" as soon as he had asked it he wished he could take it back, of course she was in a store! D'oh she was shopping!

Piper didn't seem to notice his faux pas though, "I've been looking for a prom dress and what not, but I haven't been able to find anything! Not shoes or necklaces or any girly stuff I need!"

"Maybe I can help?" Kris offered somewhat shyly.

"I can't bother you; you must be buying a tux." She responded, she bet guys had a much easier time picking out tuxes.

"Oh no, they're much too expensive to buy, especially if I'll outgrow it." He responded. Piper looked pretty distraught.

"What? If you don't wear a tux what do you wear?"

Kris laughed out loud, "guys usually rent a tux, didn't you know? And actually I'm working right now. I have a part time job at this store, so I wouldn't mind helping you find something at all- it's my job" _I'd love to help you Piper, can't you see?_

"In that case, sure I mean- I help you out just about everyday!" Piper agreed feeling significantly more cheery and like she had a better chance of finding a dress.

Kris's face nearly faulted. He hoped she would never find out after the first day he had started jamming his own locker. "The prom dresses are over here, I think I can help you find one you might like. Do you have an idea of what you want?"

A half and hour and several dresses later, he was right, he did find her a dress she liked. He brought her a few dresses to try on and led her to a dressing room to model her favorites. He hadn't expected her to come out and ask _his_ opinion though.

"Do you think this is too poofy?" she asked smoothing out a sky blue strapless dress. She looked into the four way mirror and did a little twirl.

"Maybe a little bit" he said honestly "I think you should try on that red one though." He pointed a dress hanging on the door. It was also strapless dress in a deep shade of crimson. The silky crimson part had a short sweeping bunched hem that swooped down over a white layer of taffeta underneath; it had slightly puffy material under it.

Piper went to try it on, just unzippering and pulling it up she knew it was going to look amazing. There was a problem though. She couldn't zipper up the back by herself.

"Kris could you help me for a second?" she called from the dressing room. She held the dress up with her arm and turned around, "could you zipper this for me?"

The teenage boy nearly turned bright red. "Sure…" As he zippered the dress up, Kris noticed a handful of red new scars on her back. "Ouch, that look like it hurt" he commented.

"You're telling me…" she muttered.

When she finally turned to view the dress, she was stunned. This was the dress she was going to get. "I love it" she smiled happily.

"It looks really good on you" Kris smiled, she was _beautiful…_ "I can help you find shoes, and a necklace to go with it"

"Thank you Kris!"

End Flashback 

She finally put the dress on, her heart fluttered about nervously, almost as if it wanted to leap into her throat and mess up her words. She was thankful Kris had helped her pick everything out; it made her a whole lot less nervous. He was so patient while she kept trying on pairs of shoes! He even gave her a discount on the dress.

That shopping trip had taken everything stressful off her mind. "_I didn't even think about Peter once"_ she stopped in thought for a moment. Had she been so obsessed that she completely forgot about her own personality? Had her mind completely gone to mush because of a stupid dance? Piper began to ponder the current situation her feelings had but her in, but she didn't have time to think about them, Peter would be arriving any moment now.

She looked at the tickets on her dresser, she was prepared, and she fully heard the knocking on the door and knew how to move her feet toward it down the hallway, even how to open the door. What she could not do was speak; no, speaking was definitely out of the question when she saw him.

He was _smiling_ and he looked _happy. _All her thoughts and words deserted her.

"_Well OF COURSE he is, why wouldn't he be?"_

"Hey" Was all Peter Parker said as Piper made a vague gesture with her hands conveying that he should come in.

"Oh yeah, you might want this." He said holding out to her something he had been holding in his hand that she had not noticed. It was a corsage. Not just a little one with little cheap carnations, but an absolutely gorgeous one with red fairy roses and Queen Anne's lace. Piper tried to dismiss the fact that it was probably picked out by Mary Jane, but just that he had considered this age old tradition of giving flowers to a girl ogled her mind.

He tied it around her wrist and smiled "What do you think?"

Piper gulped trying not to portray any emotion on her face "_Why can't I speak?" _

"Its great," she finally managed to get out "Thanks" she said as she managed to speak a little

"Don't look so shell-shocked Pip." He responded casually to her unusual shyness

"Don't call me Pip!" She answered slightly annoyed creasing her eyebrows.

"There you go, now you're warming up." Peter joked.

"Ha, ha."

Her Dad ushered Peter and Piper into the kitchen and set out some appetizers for all of them to snack on. He put out some of Piper's favorites, like the mini quiches with spinach and cheese. Piper squealed with delight upon seeing them and resisted the urge to stuff two them in her mouth at once. She felt too dressed up and proper.

Ed couldn't believe it. His daughter was wearing _makeup_ and a dress; she looked radiant and positively happy. He never thought Piper even had any interest in a prom or other girly things for that matter. When she got her period it had practically killed her to ask for tampons. And now, she was delighted to be in a dress! Lately she had seemed distant from him and moody, but maybe now she would finally be happy with her new home. _I'm happy for you Piper…I really am. _

After promising her dad not to come back at an unreasonable hour of the morning she was set to go. Peter being the gentleman, geeky nerd he was even opened his car door for her which she thought to extraordinarily considerate and never had anyone done that for her before. As she lifted up her dress to get in the car, Peter gave her an odd look.

"I can't believe you! You wore THAT under your dress?"

Piper cringed slightly, obvious he saw she was wearing the legs of the Spiderman costume "Well you never know…" she trailed off "Yeah, I have the top and the gloves in my purse…" she let the corners of her mouth creep into a smile.

"You're too much like me…." he responded rolling his eyes.

"You mean you have it on TOO?" Piper laughed

Peter nodded guiltily, "Yep, guilty as charged. It's under my tux."

Piper grinned "Cuuttee."

Piper wasn't exactly sure what happened that night; as far as she was concerned it could have been a dream. Every feeling she had suppressed was probably now guiltily showing upon her face (though Peter Parker didn't really notice) never had she felt more secure then when she was dancing, with her arms around his neck, every unpleasant thought was so very far away, if this was bliss Piper Checker had most certainly found it. She didn't even care about the horrible job the decoration committee had done or that most of the food was practically inedible all that mattered was that he was here with _her_.

She could pretend that he was always with her now and she didn't have anything to worry about, she was living a dream, her dream. She never found before she had so much to say; she talked about her mother and details about her life she'd never really told anyone and he _listened_ to her. She clung helplessly to his every word. Her words made her seem as if her normal characteristics were but a façade and she didn't mind her that heart was on her sleeve. All her life she had wanted to experience such an emotion but never could, until now and it was wonderful, Piper allowed herself to drink in every single feeling, the world was hers and there wasn't anyone who could tell her differently.

So, as he held her hand and led her very gentlemanly like up to her apartment after such a wonderful night, she started to remember the world she had momentarily she left behind.

"Peter, I had such a great night!" she said to him wearing a dazzling smile, one such as had been attached to her face the whole night.

"If I didn't know any better I'd say you were a different person." He joked.

"It makes me not want to go back to reality." She replied sounding somewhat cryptically to Peter.

"Well, reality is what you make it after all." Peter responded trying to sound equally philosophical.

"You're right? Why just dream when you can make it _real._" she said aloud almost breathlessly. She knew what was going to happen, he knew what was going to happen and she embraced the moment willingly in one kiss so passionate it almost seemed surreal to Piper.

Mary Jane saw it, she almost didn't believe her eyes, and no, this wasn't real…but it was. She stood at the corner of the street as Piper walked back into her apartment. He stood there for a moment looking slightly bemused. They wouldn't know what she had seen. Mary Jane bit her lip, suddenly she felt as if she had, had an utterly pure hearted intention that was maliciously cruel as if all along she had been giving the message 'Well, he's mine but I guess I can let you see him for a night'

But that lip locking hadn't seemed so innocent, it looked as if the exploration of each other's mouths had been thoroughly enjoyed by both parties. Mary Jane could only wonder what she had done or how he felt as she went back to the outside of the complex of apartments waiting for Peter, who would have never known she was there.

For about the millionth time, Piper was unable to sleep she was far too excited to go to sleep. In her perspective she had felt love, some who was _so_ like her _connecting_ with her. She was sure he felt the same way, he _had_ to have! There was no way Mary Jane could understand him the way she could, they way she could protect herself, and the way she felt. "_You're being stupid."_ Her inner voice told her, she didn't want to believe it, even it if it was right, what was so bad on acting how you feel? She ignored her thoughts and quickly dozed off into a peaceful dreamless sleep.

Piper lounged on the couch that morning after breakfast in a post blissful haze and absent-mindedly turned on the T.V. looking for something entertaining to watch. She flipped to a news station, they seemed to be talking about something important, and it was on almost every channel. She stopped to see Beth Hammond on the T.V. and snorted, still she listened to she what lies she had to share now mildly interested.

But instead of the news reporter speaking they went straight to a video clip of a woman. The woman had a smirk upon her face as she toyed with her raven black hair almost casually. "Super heroes?" she laughed, "let's see if you can save everyone _now_." Piper's attention was immediately caught, this didn't sound good.

"I've got two buildings enclosed with bombs, one in New York the other in Boston, no one gets in or out. The buildings are equipped with an outside motion sensor surrounding a ten foot area around the entire building. If anyone crosses it the bombs will detonate" the camera switched to the scenes of hostages enclosed in a building panicking and crying hysterically. "Turn yourselves into me…you've got to decide which one lives. Otherwise they _both_ go in exactly three hours from now." Piper gasped as she dug her nails into the side of the couch. Just as the clip ended showing the inside of building in Boston, Piper saw a face in the building that she knew…that building was where her mother worked…it was her mother, and it looked pretty clear to Piper she was trapped in there with the others.

Beth's voice came upon the air "Hilary Dunn is a person who was recently convicted for several other serial bombings and has managed to eluded the police and now taken two buildings hostage with the intention of bombing them, government officials are trying to negotiate with her but with no success so far, on behalf of New York and Boston, _please Spiderman help us._"

Piper turned off the T.V…. three hours to help solve this…and her mother…but only one building? There had to be a way to save both. She was also angry, not only because she felt helpless but because they had said "Spiderman help us" no mention of her, she would show them what she was worth…or die trying.

**The End 14- But in the End it doesn't even matter**

Her first thought was to go to Peter. It seemed like a good idea but she wondered if that's what she should do. Especially since her Dad wasn't going to let her out of the house. She wondered if Peter was even home. What would he do? What would she do?

She didn't have time to think about this! Piper dashed to her room and rummaged around in a box under her bed for her costume, which she quickly stuffed in her back pack. She shut the door to her room and prayed her Dad wouldn't go in.

She bit her lip, _I'm sorry again Dad, maybe someday I'll tell you…_

And she slipped out the window unnoticed.

The rest of New York City however, was in a panic, there seemed to me a huge amount of fear and uncertainly. What was Spiderman going to do?

Beth Hammond was still in her office; Max hadn't come into work that morning. "I can't believe she would do that!" It made Beth completely furious. All that time they had spent working together, and Beth laughing at Max's stupid jokes and she up and left! And now this psycho person was running around, didn't Max know it wasn't safe to go and film this? She had gone to the site around the building filmed for the news station even though Beth had expressly told her not to!

"Oh, Alex will be there." She had told her.

_Alex!_ Hmp!

"What are _you_ in a huff about? Got your undies in a twist?" Piper let herself through Beth's office window in her costume.

"_You!_" Beth cursed, "What do you want? To laugh at me because my partner left me?"

"Huh?" Piper said. This lady never made any sense.

"I'm sorry about that, but you owe me a favor." Spidergirl finally had found a use for this reporter.

Beth cheered up a little, "_An exclusive…"_ she mentally thought.

"And what do you want from me?" Beth raised an eyebrow.

"Well, Miss Beth, we're going on a little trip and you're going to help me."

"What?" but because she could say more Piper grabbed her and they swung other the window.

Peter had already gotten a head start on her though. He used a clever little trick to get inside, his old favorite habit of navigating sewers had finally paid off, and he knew just how to get in. As soon as he had pulled himself out of the dingy sewer and up through a drain on a bathroom floor (he had to widen the hole quite a bit with a metal pipe though) he made his way into the lobby.

A cheer rose up from the people trapped inside as he entered. Peter felt just as encouraged by them as they did by him.

"Don't worry! You're going to get out safe and sound" he just had to find Hilary but more importantly he had to disarm the motion sensors first to get the people out.

A smile flickered across the lips of Hilary as she watched from the security room. Peter made his way cautiously from camera to camera in black and white. This was going to be fun…

Piper let Beth down in front of the building which was marked off by yellow hazard tape and police officers. Piper didn't think any one of them would stop her though. Just as Beth was grumbling about the web slinging a certain red-head caught her eye. "Max!" she yelled. The red-head was standing next to an equally red-haired attractive male.

Max resisted the urge to roll her eyes. She thought her curly haired friend might come here. Piper and Beth made their way over to the cameramen.

"Goodie now that we're all here," Piper began "could you put those down? This is more important!" both Max and Alex put their cameras (unwillingly down).

"Now that I have your attention, where are these motion sensors? How can they possibly surround the building?" she folded her arms across her chest.

"How would we know?" Beth started, but Max interrupted her.

"Actually I think I know, or well Alex has a theory."

"And?" Piper asked

"I think it's the outside security cameras, if any of them detect motion then it triggers. At least that's what I think…I'm not sure…"

"So if we can take out one, we could enter?"

"WE?" Beth nearly screamed.

"Well you do kind of remind me of what a chicken with black curly hair would look like."

The reporter fumed.

"It's okay, I don't think we would help you much inside, but I think we can help with the motion sensors, at least disable enough to get in" Max nodded to Alex "That's right." He responded.

"But what if?" Beth trailed off.

"Don't you have any faith in Max?" Piper asked the reporter, "It's the best we have to go on. We have to try!"

Beth had to reluctantly agree, "If anyone can do it, Max can."

The red-headed girl smiled. "All right, this is how it's gonna work…"

The Camera experts went to work; actually it was a bit stupid how they agreed to solve their problem. "All we have to do is cut the power supply…it might affect a couple of blocks but this building doesn't have a generator, and so you should be able to get in"

Piper laughed "You guys are the best".

"Alright, as soon as you see the power go out, go in as quickly as possible, we don't know if Dun will be able to find a back up source." Alex explained gravely, Piper nodded, "Don't worry."

A crowd of people had begun to gather from behind the caution tape, the city had heard Spiderman and Spidergirl had begun to make their moves and they had come to see what would happen. They must have had some faith to come see this at a building that might explode. Law enforcement tried to fend them off, but it still didn't' seem to affect the morale of the crowd.

Max gave Piper the signal, as soon as the lights of the surrounding businesses began to flicker and then turn off, Piper drew a deep breath, held it and dashed towards the front door "_This is could be the stupidest idea I ever had_"

However, much to her relief, she was able to enter the building with out any explosives going off.

_It worked!_ She took in a breath of relief.

The people in the lobby looked confused, were they able to escape? And the lights had all gone out; the only source of light now was the sunlight in the tinted windows.

"The power was cut, get out while you can!" she exclaimed.

"Spiderman's already here." she heard a man near her say.

_What? That….self righteous…_

"Right, I'll go have a chat with him…" and she took off up a flight of stairs. The hostages took no time at all to swarm the exits.

After going up several flights she stopped to heave a breath. She had no idea what to do now…

"Piper!" a voice said from behind her.

Piper nearly jumped. "MJ! What are you doing here? Go back downstairs! And call me Spidergirl!"

"I can't let you do this by yourself." MJ reasoned.

Piper fumed, she had it up to _here_ with this girl. _She_ was the superhero here! MJ was the _damsel in distress_. Piper had no need for putting up with her girl anymore. How _dare_ she say something like that! She did not have to put up with this. This was the breaking point for Piper.

"I don't need you! Leave me the fuck alone! I've hated you since the moment I met you! You're a stupid ditz of a girl who doesn't deserve to be loved so completely by Peter! Get out of my way!"

Piper exploded at Mary Jane. She hadn't meant to add the last part but she wanted to more than anything to hurt that stupid perfect girl. She shot a web at Mary Jane's mouth and then several move leaving MJ stuck to the wall. Piper left without her.

She was going to show everyone that she could do this _by herself_.

Mary Jane stood there in shock as Piper bounded away, hurt and confused. She pried at the sticky web from her mouth with her shoulder. Did Piper really hate her that much? She couldn't the angry words the blonde haired girl spat at her out of her head. _You don't deserve to be loved so completely by Peter!_ Was it true? Peter loved her? Not as a friend?

"_You're wrong Piper; I don't know why you hate me but as you are now how will you make it out alive?"_

Mustering up all her courage Mary Jane struggled against the sticky web that held her. Even though she didn't know why, she felt like she had to. The things the girl had said hurt, but why had Mary Jane hurt her? Because of Peter? She couldn't let Piper do anything rather. Eventually after much struggling she was able to free herself from the wall.

Mary Jane went up several flights, wondering which way Piper or Spiderman had gone. She had to tell Spiderman at least that Piper was here. She didn't have to wait long to find them, with a deafening explosion and burst of hot air and smoke she figured out where they had gone.

The security room was down the hall, scorched carpeting and shattered walls told her she was close. She heard voices in the next room.

"Destroy the remote Spidey! If you get that she can't activate the explosives!" it was Piper. Mary Jane heard another explosion and shattering glass, what was that?

She peeked from a burnt hole in a wall. The three of them were in the room; Hilary had a massive gun over her shoulder, a…_rocket launcher?_

"Got it!" Spiderman yelled. Mary Jane inwardly cheered. They would be okay, like always!

"No!" Hilary screamed louder. Mary Jane heard a series of clicks. Hillary fired multiple rockets at the _ceiling,_ and smiled as it came down on her.

Peter watched in horror. They had won, but the ceiling rapidly began collapsing. They would all be killed! Piper and Peter needed began to dash to an open hole in the destroyed wall. That is until they heard a scream. There was no mistaking it. _Mary Jane._

Time seemed to freeze for Piper. _She followed her._ Piper was closer than Peter…she would be able to reach Mary Jane. But she could turn around and leave with Peter…it was her dream all over again. She could…._she couldn't do it._ In all it was a split second decision. With all her strength she shoved Peter behind her at the opening and flung herself towards the helpless girl. "Get the fuck out Peter!"

Piper embraced Mary Jane. The ceiling was coming down heavy with fire and smoke all around her; huge pieces besieged her entire body. Piper had nothing on her mind but her mind to save the girl. She flung the girl at Peter just as a massive chunk of ceiling slammed down on her.

It was so quick that just as MJ was handed off to Peter the ceiling came down on her.

"PIPER!" Peter screamed. Peter webbed the piece off her as more kept coming, each piece bounced off her making the parts of her body it hit twitch violently. Peter webbed Piper and pulled her to him as he launched another web to stick to a near by building. He webbed them out of there.

The whole events took less than a minute but it felt like a lifetime to Mary Jane. Piper…saved her…_why?_ In that split second she chose someone she hated should _live_.

Peter quickly lowered them to the ground.

"We need medical help! Somebody! Anybody!" he felt so helpless and on the verge of tears.

A team of paramedics swarmed the scene almost at once. It was too much confusion! Too much going on! They ripped off her mask to be replaced it with another so she could breathe. It was too ironic. They lifted her on a stretcher. Peter and MJ could only watch in horror. Alex, Max and Beth had rushed to them as soon as they saw Spiderman land.

"Oh my _God_." Beth was too hurt for words, a teenage girl…battered. Was she even alive?

The people of the crowd gasped in horror of the girl they saw loaded into the ambulance. This was the end…the brutality of life. Whispers of "That poor girl…" and "tragedy" went through the crowd.


	8. Epilogue The End

**15. Epilogue- The End**

Ed Checker had been doing laundry on the bottom floor of the apartment. As he made it up the carpeted stairs he heard his phone ring from the apartment.

"Piper get it!" she didn't seemed to hear him. The phone kept ringing. Quickly Ed set down the basket and unlocked the door as he ran for the phone.

"Hello?"

"Mr. Checker?"

"Yes, that's me." He responded. He didn't know who this was.

"This is the New York City Police department; you need to come see your daughter."

Ed nearly dropped the phone, he ran with the cordless phone to Piper's room. She wasn't there.

His heart raced "Where is she? What happened?"

"You really needed to come to the hospital, we'll explain there."

Ed dashed out of the apartment leaving the laundry basket outside.

He came upon a hospital waiting room crowded with people he didn't know. All of them were looking anxious.

"Where's Piper? Where's my daughter?" he demanded looking frantic.

"Mr. Checker," Spiderman spoke "She's in surgery…there's something you should know."

"What happened? Will she be okay?" was his daughter going to be alright?

"I honestly don't know. She was involved with stopping the bombing of the building…"

"She saved me…" Mary Jane quivered. "But got hurt for doing it…"

"Mr. Checker," the policeman said nervously "Your daughter is _Spidergirl_."

Ed heart skipped a beat. "What?"

After surgery had done its best to make new of her broken body Piper was put to recover in intensive care. She'd been there for days 'sleeping' with no signs of waking up. The doctors had no idea what would happen or if she would heal on her own. Or what effect her powers might have. Ed didn't want to call it a coma. The way she looked to him was more like a 'sleepy beauty' _she'll wake up._

Her father sat by her side "Piper…why didn't you tell me? Why did you leave?" he had been crying off and on for days. He couldn't bring himself to call Suze or eat or leave her side. Piper was surrounded constantly by people. Reporters, classmates and people he had no idea how they knew Piper. They went in and out with cards and flowers. Mindless colors scattered throughout the room. It was hospital it was sterile and depressing. There was machinery and nurses walking through their everyday interrupted lives.

One of the people who visited everyday, even if it was only for a few minutes was blonde haired boy of about Piper's age.

He never said anything, only brought flowers to brighten the room and watched sadly.

_Wake up Piper…I need you…_

It was matter of the heart. Kris wanted more than anything for her to open her eyes. _Where did all her life go? She was so strong, so driven it can't be her lying in bed. She saved us everyday. Why did this happen to her?_

One day when it was just the boy and Ed in the room he spoke to Mr. Checker, "Is it okay if I stay with her? You should get something to eat. Really." He spoke nervously.

Ed nodded, though reluctantly, he didn't know why but something about the boy made him comfortable. "Were you a friend of Pipers?"

"I talked to her everyday." Kris smiled thinking of Piper opening her locker.

"I'm sure she wouldn't mind then," Ed got up and stretched. I'll be back in five minutes. Kris nodded.

The boy grasped onto Piper's hand. It felt so cold.

"I'm sorry Piper," he said aloud, talking to her as if she were awake, "I'm such a coward. Everyday I would wait for you to come unstick my locker just so I could see you. I did it on purpose. I'm sorry to have caused you trouble. Why am I apologizing? I was silent when you probably needed someone to tell these things about your life to. You trusted me so much! You even let me pick out your prom dress, you always helped me!" he smiled, tears filled his eyes.

"You can't die. I haven't gotten to tell you how I feel about you. A person like you who is so strong, you seem so helpless now. Let me help you, I'll stay by your side. I know you'll wake up! Piper, I…I _love_ you."

As he finished his words he felt relieved. He felt as if a great burden had been lifted from him. He continued to hold her fragile seeming hand sadly, as if it could make a difference. The window was open and the breeze drifted through the room peacefully into the tense environment. At first he thought it was just the wind that felt like a breeze and the soft touch of a butterfly wing to his skin, but it was something else.

He had felt a _very_ _small squeeze_ on his hand. "Piper? You heard me?" he said tensely, "squeeze again if you can hear me!" a few moments later, nothing happened but after a minute or so she squeezed faintly again.

"Piper wake up, please I know you can. We all believe in you. Your dad wants nothing more than to see you smile again. Please get better! We need you! I need you!"

He felt Piper squeeze his hand again, this time harder than before. It was if she was saying _I know._

After that day Piper began to get progressively better. At first it was little hand squeezes, then her fingers wiggled. Soon she could turn her neck a little and move her toes. Each day everyone wondered if it would be the day she finally opened her eyes.

Peter and Mary Jane visited religiously, but not as much as Kris had. Peter felt so helpless watching her in bed so still. Mary Jane had told him the whole story of what happened, and couldn't forgive herself.

But still, if- no _when_ Piper woke up what would she say? Peter could only wonder.

The odd assortment of people- Mr. Checker, Peter and MJ sat around Piper's room one evening. They were 'talking' to Piper through a series of finger wiggles and hand squeezing. As Ed held her hand as he always did her eyes fluttered a bit.

Peter and Mr. Checker were having a conversation about what to have for dinner as Piper's eyes slowly began to flutter. In a moment she felt light pierce into her eyes. It hurt.

Her mouth felt a little dry and she tried to croak words.

"dad" a tiny hoarse whisper said.

"Piper?" Was his daughter awake? Piper inched open her eyes once more. The light hurt but she was determined to open them. The room stood silent and watched her. Her eyes adjusted and focused on her Dad's face blurrily. She was so happy she smiled weakly, it was tough to move.

"Yeah." She croaked.

Her Dad hugged her "I'm so glad…so glad you're awake…."

Weeks had gone by after Piper had woken up. After a little physical therapy to strengthen her bed rested muscles she was allowed to go home. She left on a Saturday morning. The car ride back to the apartment was silent. She knew her Dad was glad to have her home but she felt like she was going home to the day she left. It wasn't so much she was upset about the accident, more about the relationships she had damaged with her selfishness.

So far nothing had been said as regarding to her 'other life'. She walked up the familiar steps, there was a vase of flowers at door with a card exclaiming 'welcome home!' she smiled a little bit but still felt nervous. She hadn't said anything to Peter or her Dad; she didn't know what to say. Sorry didn't seem to be quite fitting.

Ed unlocked the door, and put the keys on the counter. Piper seemed quiet; ever since she had woken up she didn't seem to possess her normal amount of energy nor wit. Ed felt like she faked her smiles and resisted talking. _What couldn't she say?_

Piper looked at her Dad as she stood in the threshold. Everything welled up in her at once _God, I can't keep hurting him, what have I been doing?_

"Dad…" and she burst into tears.

"Piper, piper? What's wrong?" he rushed to embrace her.

"I'm so sorry, I feel so guilty for hurting you…for hurting everyone…" she choked "For keeping this damned secret…its hurts so much and you've done nothing but love me completely…I'm so sorry I don't deserve it!" she sobbed into her father's arm spilling her heart.

"Piper, I'm so glad you finally told me what you're feeling. It's so hard to keep something like that inside, try not to do it, okay?" he smiled at her. Piper looked up at him confused. "Oh Pip, of course I love you, you're my daughter. I'm hurt at what happened but I understand. All along I just wanted to be there for you, to support your dreams. You know that."

Piper knew he was right; he had always supported her when she turned away "Dad, you're so good to me. Let me be good to you back."

After the talk with her father Piper felt like an enormous weight had been lifted off her chest. But there was still a little bit of pain left. _Peter…_ The building event had changed her perspective. She couldn't believe how immature she had behaved. Not to mention the things she'd said to Mary Jane, she didn't feel as guilty about that though. But she _had_ saved Mary Jane…she needed to speak with Peter.

She thought about escaping to see him but she thought of her Dad and instead decided to wait until tomorrow morning. Piper remembered all the times she snuck out; _I can't do that to him anymore…_

She sat in her room. Her secret was out. Reporters had constantly tried to barge into her hospital room but Beth kept most of them out. She didn't know how Beth did it but she was thankful for it. Beth seemed to view her in a different regard than she had before. The day before Piper had left the hospital Beth had come to visit her.

Piper had been watching TV when she arrived. They shared a little small talk, but eventually Beth got down to the matter of her visit. First of all she apologized profusely to Piper about all the things she had written about her. Piper was a bit taken aback but none the less amused. More surprising however was the Beth told her she was going to quit her job and she had already given her two weeks notice. Piper could scarcely believe it,

"_But why Beth?"_

"_Gossip isn't very fulfilling, I think that I have something better to do than talk about people"_

"_What are you going to do? How are you going to live not expressing your opinions?"_

"_I didn't say I was going to stop expressing my opinion! I got a spot in a newspaper as an advice columnist. Ironic huh? But I think I know a bit about people myself. For instance, while you were asleep a young blonde gentleman visited you everyday. You should really talk to him."_

"_Huh?"_

"_I've got to being going now!"_

So that reporter did have some substance to her _after all_. Piper sighed. People could be so much more complex than meets the eye. But Beth's comment about Kris…she couldn't remember a lot from when she was 'asleep' but for some reason his voice came to mind. Piper couldn't place it. It must have been something about lockers; she sat pensive for a moment. A certain phrase suddenly came to mind …_wait for you to come unstick my locker just so I could see you. I did it on purpose…._

The girl laughed for a moment. She felt a lot clearer about how she really felt.

Even though Piper might have been thinking clearer it still didn't help her as Peter opened to the door to his apartment.

"Hi…" she stuttered off.

"Come in Piper" he answered. It seemed too formal for them.

"Listen…I know Mary Jane probably said some stuff to you."

"Yeah…" Peter trailed off.

"But in my defense the web over the mouth was _not_ over the top." Piper smiled. Peter nearly laughed himself. Good, she had broken the ice.

"She told me, about your outburst. You know how guilty she feels?"

"Oh Peter, tell the girl not too feel guilty! I should be apologizing to her. I bet you're wondering why I did what I did huh?"

"I guess you could say that." Peter responded.

"_First of all_- why the _fuck_ didn't you high-tail it out of there? I'm surprised I even got out at all I was sure I was gonna die. You really are stupid."

"I couldn't leave you there!" He immediately protested.

"I know…I'm glad you saved me…you've save me so many times. You know as much as I don't like her I couldn't leave her there to die. It was a split second decision because I knew it was right. I'm not meant for you and I should have seen that, I'm sorry for abusing our friendship." As lame as it felt to say that (AND she was sure Peter already knew what she meant) but none the less, at least she had gotten to say it aloud.

"That doesn't mean we still can't be friends, I will always be here to help you with you powers." Peter looked a Piper sincerely.

"Actually about that…I don't have them anymore. I don't know what happened but because of that accident they're gone. I took the subway to your apartment. It was weird. I don't really mind though. Whatever I had left of them I'm glad- I think that's what helped me recover."

"Really?" Peter looked surprised "What are you gonna do now?"

"Well, I'm gonna graduate; my school is still going to let me. All the hype over 'Spidergirl' will soon die out and this fall I'm going to go to NYU as a journalism major. Isn't that the superhero thing to do? I mean, Clark Kent was a reporter, you're a photographer, and couldn't you use someone giving you good press? I'd be a friend in the business! You don't happen to have any contacts at 'The Daily Planet' do you?" Piper saw the look on Peter's face it was priceless.

"Oh Piper, I'm going to miss you" he said sincerely.

"Just because I'll be off at college doesn't mean I'm leaving you for good! I fully intend to drop in on you from time to time!"

"I'll look forward to your visits." Peter smiled.

"Hey, call me if your double life gets too hectic! My Dad _finally_ got me a cell phone, well that wasn't until after I told him my powers went away. I think he realized being able to reach me at any time is important. I'm here for you. That doesn't mean however you should pass up Mary Jane! I know you can't tell her now…but maybe someday? You deserve a chance at happiness and if anyone can pull off being a superhero and having a girl friend at the same time, it's you Peter. I believe in you and I always will, so don't forget that okay?" She loved being able to express how she felt to Peter. It felt good to talk to him as a friend.

"You are really something else Piper. I'm glad I got to meet you. As for Mary Jane she really wants to talk to you."

"Sorry Peter, but I _can't_ do that. At least not yet, maybe someday. Just tell her that everything's okay and that I'm sorry. At least that's one of my plans as an excuse to put you two in the same room together." She grinned.

"I don't understand why, but I've never understood women. I'll tell her that for you." he promised.

"Good, thanks a bunch. I've got to get going now- but I'll see you around okay?"

Peter nodded.

"Alright, thank you then Peter Parker." and she left with a smile on her face. _It felt good._

_How bout no longer being masochistic  
How bout remembering your divinity  
How bout unabashedly bawling your eyes out  
How bout not equating death with stopping_

Thank you India  
Thank you providence  
Thank you disillusionment  
Thank you nothingness  
Thank you clarity  
Thank you thank you silence

Piper stopped at a bakery café. She felt good, and wanted to celebrate with a fruit torte- one of her favorite things. It wasn't as heavy or needy like chocolate. It was perfect treat for celebrating a good summer to come.

She sat down with a cup of tea and torte in a contemplative mood. She inhaled the sweet scent of pastries and cakes around her. A cake caught her eye, a vanilla frosted yellow cake. Her eyes lit up with some sort of a vague memory. As soon as she finished her torte she went up to the counter and decided to buy the cake,

"Do you want anything written on it?" the clerk asked.

"Yes, I would."

She stood on the subway with the white box in hand. After consulted a phone book she knew exactly where her destination was. It wouldn't take her long to get _there_ at all. Piper rung the doorbell and an older woman opened the door.

"Hello?" she asked curiously

"Is Kris home?" Piper questioned, wondering if he was at work.

"No, he's home. Come in" she ushered Piper in. "Kris, someone's here too see you!" She called.

Kris came down a flight of stairs slightly confused. "Who is…." He started at Piper with the box in her hand.

"Hi Kris, I thought I'd come visit as a thank you." She smiled cheerfully.

_She's got her enthusiasm back_.

"You were the girl in the hospital?" His mother asked.

"Yes, while I was in a coma he visited me everyday." Piper glanced at Kris "I'm really glad he came. I brought you something, a cake. I hope you'll like it."

Kris look at her oddly, was this why she had come to visit?

"Why don't you go in the kitchen and have some then? Kris?"

"_It's that girl" _Kris mother's thought to herself. "_The one he cried over when he heard what happened…the one he visited everyday. It must have been her, that's why he's been doing better at school."_

He nodded and led Piper to the kitchen.

He took the box from Piper and silently set it on the kitchen table, then rummaged for a knife to cut it. Piper grinned as he opened the box.

_Thank You, I heard you_

Kris's heart stopped for a moment he read the words written in icing again. "You…remember?"

"That you stuck your locker every day on purpose?" She grinned "I remembered today, what you told me. I'm sorry I didn't listen to you more clearly…you helped me…and then you were with me everyday. I had blind affections for someone else…" she trailed off. She wasn't sure what she wanted to say or how to say it.

"But what you had to go through _all by yourself_, Piper I'm so glad you're alive…I don't know much about superhero stuff but I think I can…

"Don't say that, you _are_ a superhero! Because of you _I woke up_. Besides I'm not one any more…I don't have my powers anymore. I'm kinda glad though, because when I had my powers I didn't see you in the light I should have. I like you as more than friend Kris. When I was with you I always felt my best." She let her entire heart pour out. After everything that had happened she finally had let all of her emotions out.

"Piper, I…" Kris stumbled for words "I like you as more than friend too…

Piper embraced Kris in a deep hug. "Thank you for all that you've done for me. After all this I'm not at _the end_ yet. I could have been but I'm _not."_

_Author's note:_ 3 years and its done. I hope you've enjoyed it. I think it's was good idea for a Spidergirl fic. At first I had Piper die but decided that didn't fit right so I overhauled a lot of the story. I don't do a lot of action because I focused more on feeling and just general story telling.

Edit 2: This is the second time the story has been edited to fix grammar, and wording as well as formatting. Enjoy all my 96 pages of Microsoft word.

Now my friends, it's _the end, the beautiful end._

**The End Soundtrack!**

_Opening Theme_: It's the End of the World As We Know It- REM

_Piper's Theme_: Like a Bird- Nelly Furtado

_Peter's Theme_: Superman- Five for Fighting

_MJ's Theme_: I Need a Hero- Bonnie Tyler

_Beth's Theme_: Fame- Irene Cara

_Max and Alex's Theme_: Accidentally in Love- Counting Crows

_Kris's Theme_: Bubble Toes- Jack Johnson

_Ending Theme_: In the End- Linkin Park

_Epilogue:_ Thank You- Alanis Morissette


End file.
